LAS VEGAS – After a bunch of “Wicked” success, the women of Oz returned to CinemaCon for a victory lap – and a glimpse of the future.
“It has been quite a year,” Cynthia Erivo said to a packed crowd of theater owners. It was an understatement, considering the popular Broadway adaptation’s 10 Oscar nominations (including best picture, actress and supporting actress), box-office take (third-highest domestic earner of 2024, with $433 million) and strong imprint on pop culture last holiday season.
Now they’re doing it all again: Erivo and Ariana Grande debuted the first trailer for the upcoming sequel, “Wicked: For Good” (in theaters Nov. 21). The fresh “For Good” footage picked up from the “Wicked” cliffhanger, with Elphaba (Erivo) defying the wishes of the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum), leaving her friend Glinda (Grande) and now working on her magic as a fugitive of the law. Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) is shown searching for Elphaba with his group of soldiers, while propaganda emanates from both sides (posters denouncing Elphaba, but her fighting back with “Our Wizard lies” written in the clouds).
But much of the trailer is with Elphaba and Glinda together, reuniting and figuring out what their relationship will be, plus glimpses at key moments including a wedding involving Glinda and Fiyero, a tease of Fiyero turning on the Wizard to help Elphaba, and an animal-led revolt come to Oz. “I’m off to see the Wizard,” Elphaba warns, borrowing Dorothy’s classic line.
Grande teased that her character has to “look at her reflection to figure out what it means to be Glinda the Good” – and also shouted out the concession workers at a South Florida Cinemark – while Erivo said Elphaba “has to learn how to use her powers for the betterment of good in exile.” Plus, producer Marc Platt promised “more complexity and more profundity” in both characters.
Meanwhile, the “Wicked” sequel looks to be leaning hard into its ties to “The Wizard of Oz.” Director Jon M. Chu revealed that the movie “brings us past the point where the girl with the gingham dress drops in from Kansas.” There were even some familiar bits in the “For Good” trailer, with Dorothy and crew walking the yellow brick road and the Wizard ordering them to “bring me” Elphaba’s broomstick.
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