Universal Pictures’ Wicked movies, based on the wildly popular Broadway musical, are looking to become a Thanksgiving tradition.
Director Jon M. Chu and the film’s stars, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, revealed Tuesday on their respective social media feeds that Wicked Part Two is moving up its release date in theaters from Dec. 25, 2025 to Nov. 26, 2025, a Wednesday.
The movie isn’t a surprise. In March, Universal and the filmmakers likewise moved up Wicked Part One from Dec. 25, 2024 to Nov. 27, 2024.
Insiders say opening over Thanksgiving gives the event films more time to build an audience over the year-end holidays and is also beneficial from a consumer products standpoint.
The star-studded cast also includes Michelle Yeoh — who made history earlier this year when winning the Oscar for best actress — Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey and Ethan Slater.
The Wicked movies, based on the best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire, is adapted for the screen by the stage production’s book writer Winnie Holzman and by Academy Award winning composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz. The Broadway stage musical is produced by Universal Stage Productions.
“Wicked is such a proud part of our legacy,” Universal film boss Donna Langley told theater owners at CinemaCon in late April, noting the musical has just become the fourth-longest-running in Broadway history. “They are creating an entire world I know will dazzle your screens.” Footage of the film was one highlights of the annual convention of exhibitors.
Wicked, the untold story of the witches of Oz, stars Erivo as Elphaba, a defiant social outcast who has yet to discover her true power, and Grande as Glinda, a popular young woman, gilded by privilege and ambition, who has yet to discover her true heart.
As the two women forge an unlikely sisterhood, they will empower each other in ways that neither foresees. But as dark forces of…
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