If you cast your mind back to 2016, you may recall that Universal Pictures set a December 2019 release date for Wicked, an adaptation of the smash hit stage musical which presents an alternate retelling of L. Frank Baum’s classic tale The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Since that announcement, we’ve heard nothing in the way of movement on the project and so it will likely come as little surprise to hear that the movie won’t hit its planned 2019 date. However, according to the show’s creator Stephen Schwartz, the adaptation remains very much in development and will happen at some point.
“I will tell you 100 percent there will be a movie of Wicked and it won’t be that far away, but it won’t be next year because we’re still writing,” Schwartz tells THR. “Pre-production hasn’t even begun but that could start in the not-too-distant future. That [December 2019 announced release date] was always a fake date. There wasn’t a prayer in hell.”
Schwartz and Winnie Holzman (Jerry Maguire) have been working on the script for Wicked, which has Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot) attached to direct.
Originally published September 23, 2018. Updated December 4, 2022.
