Jon M. Chu says ‘Wicked’ release date “shouldn’t be affected” by actors strike
Jon M. Chu, the director of the upcoming feature-film adaptation of the musical Wicked, has revealed that the two-part arrival of his project “shouldn’t be affected” by the actors strike despite production being halted.
Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh. It is the first of a duo of films adapted from Holzman and Schwartz’s hit stage musical of the same name. The stage show was based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, and characters from L. Frank Baum’s 1900 work The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Set in the fictional Land of Oz, which L. Frank Baum first created in the 1900 novel, the movie follows the story of Elphaba, a green-skinned woman, and explores the path that leads her to become the notorious villain, the Wicked Witch of the West.
In a new update shared on Instagram, Wicked director Jon M. Chu explained that due to the ongoing actors’ dispute, production has been “paused until the strike is over”, with only “the last pieces of the movie” left to shoot.
“We were only a few days away from being done so we were so close,” Chu continued. “It’s been very painful to put a halt to it all, but we will be back! And we will finish properly strong when the time is right.” Despite production being halted, Chu maintained that the release dates “shouldn’t be affected”. These are Part One on November 27th, 2024, and Part Two on November 26th, 2025.
Notably, Wicked has already faced two years of delays. It was originally slated for a 2021 release when announced in 2019, but the pandemic saw production postponed until July last year.
In April, star Ariana Grande wrote on Instagram: “Savoring every millisecond left with my Galinda (although she’ll be with me irrevocably, forever). She shows me so many new things every day.”
She continued: “I am so grateful, I don’t know what to do or say… To be here in Oz where everyday is a life changing one… To be feeling, learning and growing so much at such a disarming speed… To feel so much love around me, to begin each day before the sun is up and to end after it set.”
Grande added: “To hold my brilliant twin flame / sister Cynthia’s beautiful, green hands every day… To work in the safest, most beautiful and loving, biggest-yet-most-intimate/tiny-feeling spaces…”
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