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Wicked Movie Musical Defies Gravity With First "Popular," High-Flying Trailer (WATCH)
Watch Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda in the trailer for the highly anticipated movie adaptation of the hit play.
The trailer for what’s sure to be one of the most "Popular" movies of the year is here. On Wednesday, Universal released the official trailer for Wicked, the highly anticipated film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical.
The trailer, which at nearly three and a half minutes is a lengthy one, introduces viewers to the Land of Oz before Dorothy and her little dog Toto ever showed up. Cynthia Erivo plays Elphaba, a young woman with green skin who will become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West… but maybe there’s more to her story than it would seem. Opposite her is Ariana Grande as Glinda, a pink-clad, popular girl who rooms with Elphaba at Shiz University where they’re both studying magic under the headmistress Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh).
RELATED: Return to Oz With the Fantastical First Look at Wicked, Starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande
As the trailer reveals, the pair don’t initially get along, but Glinda begins to form a friendship with Elphaba despite her initial prejudice, eventually accompanying her to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum).
Peter Dinklage, Bowen Yang, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bronwyn James, and Keala Settle also star.
The trailer features hints of a couple of songs from the musical, including the most well-known of the bunch, “Popular” and “Defying Gravity.”
If you haven’t seen the Tony-winning play the movie is based on, you should know that the trailer covers a lot of plot. However, that’s perhaps OK because the film, which is helmed by Crazy Rich Asians director John M. Chu, only covers the first act of the play. A second film, due in theaters a year after this one, will conclude the story.
Wicked, which was originally based on a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire titled Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, was adapted into a Broadway musical that opened in 2003. Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth originated the roles of Elphaba and Glinda, respectively. The play won three Tony Awards and is the fourth-longest-running show on Broadway as well as the second-highest-grossing show. To say that the film adaptation is anticipated is an understatement.
Watch the trailer above, and look for Wicked in theaters on November 22, 2024.
