Wicked: Part One Will Release Early; Movie Fans Excited for 'Wickediator'

Wicked: Part One, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, will arrive in theaters five days earlier than planned. The highly anticipated first part of a two-part movie adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked, will now be released on November 22.

With its new release date, the movie avoids opening against Disney's Moana 2. Instead, Wicked: Part One will face off against Ridley Scott's Gladiator II—starring Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal—with movie fans already looking forward to a Barbenheimer-style double-feature and cultural event. (Wickediator?)

Wicked: Part One was initially slated for release on December 25; it switched to a Thanksgiving release date, ostensibly to avoid opening against Disney's Mufasa: The Lion King, which features songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

The movie stars Erivo as Elphaba, Grande as Glinda, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Jeff Goldblum as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Ethan Slater as Boq and Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible. It is directed by Jon M. Chu, who also helmed the movie adaptation of In the Heights, from a screenplay by Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz, the creators of the Broadway show.

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked is a revisionist retelling of the story of the Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, following the friendship of green-skinned, ostracized Elphaba and blonde, popular Galinda. Wicked: Part Two is to be released on November 26, 2025.

The movie also stars Marissa Bode as Nessarose, Bowen Yang as Pfannee, Bronwyn James as ShenShen, Keala Settle as Miss Coddle (a new character created for the film), Aaron Teoh as Averic, Colin Michael Carmichael as Professor Nikidik and Adam James as Glinda's father.