At one point in time, a feature film adaptation of Wicked was supposed to open over this weekend. Originally set for a December 20, 2019 release all the way back in June 2016 with Stephen Daldry at the helm, Universal clearly had a lot of confidence in the project given that they announced it so far in advance - confidence that no doubt stemmed from the enormous popularity of the project in its original form as a Broadway musical. Since 2011, five of the last seven Decembers have seen a new live-action musical released into theaters, and each of them have grossed over $140 million domestically.
While all of that instilled plenty of initial confidence in the film adaptation of Wicked, there were minimal updates on the project as its release date drew closer and closer. Despite three and a half years to get itself together, Wicked clearly did not make its original release date, with Universal deciding instead to put another musical, Cats, in its spot. Now set for a 2021 slot, Wicked's release date delay is part of a common struggle Hollywood faces with the practice of announcing movie release dates years in advance.
It's a practice that's become far more common in the last decade as major studios looked to snag high-profile release dates. In a world where a few major tentpoles tend to dominate the box office, landing the proper release date is all the more crucial now, which means studios are lining up titles like Wicked way in advance for dates they may not make. Most titles scheduled so far in advance end up having to shift themselves simply to accommodate all kinds of exterior factors. For instance, Thor: Ragnarok was originally set for July 28, 2017 back in October 2014, before getting delayed to its eventual November 3, 2017 release date due to Marvel Studios striking a deal with Sony Pictures to make a Spider-Man movie.
Whereas that Marvel Studios title got merely a three-month delay, though, other tentpoles scheduled far in advance simply end up getting pulled from the schedule entirely. It's a fate that's befallen the likes of the Uncharted movie multiple times and the Wicked movie has similarly missed numerous release dates, including the aforementioned December 20, 2019 release date. All of these delays may lead one to wonder if Glinda and Elphaba may never get to grace the silver screen, but luckily for Wicked fans, there's hope for the Wicked film adaptation.
In addition to confirmed reports of the film aiming for a 2021 release, the continued box office success of musicals like The Greatest Showman and Aladdin make the prospect of adapting Wicked into a feature film such a potentially lucrative one that it's unlikely Universal will forego it. Though it may have to go through a couple more release dates before it sees the light of day, a Wicked movie will, more likely than not, defy gravity on the big screen one day, though it won't be on the December 20, 2019 release date it was once set for so long ago.
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