Why 'Wicked' Was Split Into 2 Separate Movies
Wicked: For Good is now in theaters, and you may be wondering why they decided to split the movie into two separate films being released one year apart.
Stephen Schwartz, the composer behind the fan-favorite musical, previously shared the reason why the Jon M. Chu film was made to have two parts, despite it obviously being a one-part show that has played on Broadway for over a decade.
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“We found it very difficult to get past ‘Defying Gravity’ without a break,” he once told fan newsletter The Schwartz Scene. “That song is written specifically to bring a curtain down, and whatever scene to follow it without a break just seemed hugely anti-climactic.”
“The truth is we tried for some time to make it one movie, even if it had to be one very long movie,” he added. “But we kept running into two problems. The first is that even as a very long single movie, it required us cutting or omitting things that we wanted to include and that we think fans of the show and the story will appreciate.” The second reason, as he explained it, came down to the show-stopper number, and the inability for what comes at the beginning of Act 2 to escape its gravitational pull.
“So, for these two reasons,” Schwartz continued, “plus the excitement of doing something that’s never been done before with a musical, we have decided to do two movies. Of course, when it’s all done, if it doesn’t work that way, we’ll have to figure something out. But we strongly believe that this is what’s best for our story, our show, and our fans.”
Additionally, he added “What we have discussed is that changes need to be ‘additive,’ to use (producer) Marc Platt’s term. They need to add something to the story or the characters. They can’t just be changes to do something different. I feel confident that by the time the movie is made, if we all continue to have the same degree of input, I could have a conversation with anyone who has a question about any of the changes made from the stage show and justify why I think it’s better for the movie.”