Canon Final Fantasy character Ariana Grande is summoned into her first Wicked trailer
The witch isn't dead just yet.
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The first trailer for Wicked Part 1 is here, giving us our first look at the long-running musical's movie adaptation.
As it does every time, the Super Bowl was stuffed full of trailers, offering first looks at Deadpool & Wolverine and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, but there was also something for the musical fans too. Wicked, based on the stage show of the same now, also made an appearance, complete with performances from the pair of leads Cynthia Erivo, who plays the very green Elphaba, and Ariana Grande in the role of Galinda Upland. Much like the first trailer for the Mean Girls musical movie, you won't actually hear much singing though, though there is a stray note at the end from the musical's most iconic song, Defying Gravity.
The first look, which you can see above, isn't exactly inspiring confidence - it mostly just seems like your standard, 2020s, CGI-infested blockbuster that isn't doing anything original and exists for the sole purpose of capitalising on a pre-existing property. Obviously it could still be good! But then, even if Grande has gone on to some great heights like appearing in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, she was also a Nickelodeon actress, so there's only so good Wicked can be really.
Wicked Part 1 is being directed by Jon M Chu, who's directed quite the range of projects, like Step Up 2: The Streets, Step Up 3D, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and Crazy Rich Asians. If anything, he's got range at the very least. Marc Platt is on producing duties with David Stone.
While Wicked was meant to be a single film originally, back in 2022 Chu explained on Instagram that while trying to "cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all for so many years. So we decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one Wicked movie but TWO!!!!"
Wicked Part 1 is set to arrive in cinemas later this year, on November 27, with Part 2 releasing pretty much exactly a year later on November 26, 2025.