Is the Wicked Movie Split Across Two Parts?

While Wicked was originally announced as a two-entry epic, Universal Pictures’ marketing frames the upcoming musical adaptation as a standalone outing. So, is the Wicked movie still split across two parts?

Is the Wicked Movie Split Across Two Parts?

Yes, the Wicked adaptation’s story is divided into two parts. So, even though the first installment doesn’t carry the “Part One” sub-header in pre-release materials, its full title is nevertheless “Wicked: Part One” (and that’s what appears on-screen in the film itself).

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If dropping “Part One” from Wicked‘s promotional campaigns seems a bit dodgy, it’s nevertheless fairly standard practice in Hollywood (It: Chapter One and Dune: Part One are two other recent examples). Why do studios do it? Presumably to avoid discouraging prospective viewers who aren’t keen on cliffhanger climaxes. A decent chunk of the moviegoing public expect a definitive ending.

This raises another question: why not squeeze the entire narrative into a single film? After all, the Wicked stage show is only 2 hours and 45 minutes long. Not an option, according to the movie’s composer (and original Wicked composer/lyricist) Stephen Schwartz. “We ultimately decided to do two movies because we couldn’t get it all crammed into one movie without, we felt, really compromising the story… so it got divided into two movies,” he told Collider.

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As such, Universal has a lot riding on Wicked: Part One‘s box office fortunes – especially considering Part Two is already in the can. Schwartz revealed in the Collider interview that the combined shoot was nearly done in December 2023. Several cast and crew members (including Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande) then confirmed that principal photography had wrapped the following month.

Wicked: Part One arrives in cinemas on Nov. 22, 2024. Part Two is slated for release on Nov. 21, 2025.