Jon M. Chu is set to helm the movie adaptation of hit musical Wicked, Deadline reports.
Wicked has been on Broadway for 17 consecutive years. It's been performed in over 100 cities and translated into six languages. The musical acts as a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, telling the stories of the two witches – Elphaba, AKA the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, AKA the Good Witch. The pair start off as unlikely friends, but they struggle through opposing personalities and viewpoints and rivalry over the same love interest. In the original Broadway run, Elphaba was played by Idina Menzel and Glinda by Kristen Chenoweth.
The project has been in the pipeline for a while, with Billy Elliot director Stephen Daldry leaving the project in fall 2020 after Universal wanted to get things going sooner rather than later. No cast members have been announced yet, though.
Chu's previous projects include the 2018 rom-com Crazy Rich Asians starring Constance Wu and Henry Golding. Wicked won't be his first time at the musical rodeo, either – he also directed the upcoming movie adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights. He recently dropped out of the Willow TV show for Disney Plus, too – he was set to direct the pilot and executive produce the series, a sequel to the 1988 movie of the same name starring Warwick Davis.
While we wait for the Wicked movie to hit the big screen, check out our list of the upcoming movies to look forward to this year.
