James Cameron "almost" directed Wicked 15 years ago, but he "couldn't find the song"

James Cameron says he almost directed Wicked some 15 years ago – though he's not the only director who threw his hat in the ring.

"I almost made Wicked," Cameron revealed on The Town with Matthew Belloni. "I really love the story. The Wizard of Oz is one of my favorites. This is going back 15 years. I couldn't find the song."

Up until its massively successful release in 2024, Universal had been trying to make a Wicked movie since the 1990s. And because this well before the stage musical came to be, it would've been a straight adaptation of the book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West – without any music at all. At one point, Robert Zemeckis was attached to direct, followed by Broadway director Stephen Daldry, before eventually landing in Jon M. Chu's lap circa 2021.

The film, starring Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda, was a massive worldwide success, earning $750 at the global box office. The sequel, which adapts the second half of the musical, is on track to surpass that number, earning a whopping $223 million in its opening weekend against a budget of $150 million.

While the previous Wicked movie focused on Elphaba and Glinda's unlikely friendship, the events of the new film bring us right into that fateful scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy dumps that bucket of water on the Wicked Witch of the West (and yes, we do see it in the film).

Wicked: For Good is in theaters now. For more, check out our Wicked: For Good ending explained, or check out our list of movie release dates.