After years of development, the film adaptation of Broadways long-running smash Wicked will officially hit theaters in December 2019. The musical premiered in San Francisco in 1998.
Director Stephen Daldry has been attached to the project for at least four years and will helm the film adaptation. Winnie Holzman, who wrote the musicals book, will co-write the script with lyricist-composer Stephen Schwartz.
Wicked is based off Gregory Maguires 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which reworks the classic Wizard of Oz to tell the tale from the perspective of the witches instead of Dorothy. The musical and book both humanize Elphaba, the iconic Wicked Witch of the West who is the 1939s villain.
The musical has been dominating Broadway since its 2003 debut. It is the tenth longest-running Broadway show, having performed over 5,000 shows. The show embarked on two US tours in 2005 and2009, hitting Londons West End in 2006 and touring the UK and Ireland in 2013.
Various Broadway luminaries have had their hand at starring in the Broadway show, thoughits original cast of Idina Menzel as Elphaba and Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda remainits most famous. The original production won three Tony Awards and six Drama Desk Awards as well as a Grammy Award for the cast album.
The film adaptations cast and shooting start date has yet to be announced.