#jon chu

[theblvcksupreme]

Academy Award nominee Ariana Grande-Butera 🥹

British Academy Film Awards Nominee

Critics Choice Awards Nominee

Golden Globe Awards Nominee

Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominee

[sunsetsentiments]

am i the only one who thinks that elphaba's promise was cut for good reason??????

i love the scene sm but tonally it's off considering what happens next at the train station. it unloads insecurities that elphie and glinda have that are more appropriately addressed and explored in part 2. we do not have time to cover all this ground in this first movie 😭

and the dialogue,, again i love the openness and vulnerability but it's rly blunt. i like the final cut of the movie where moments are up to viewers' interpretations bc everything that glinda and elphie talk about can still be seen in the movie but through their actions and the editing ((ex. glinda being insecure over being left behind shown through the shots of her waking up in between the fiyero and elphie forest scene)). it's fun discovering the nuances in ari and cynthia's performances,, elphaba's promise also has that going on but it does spell out things too obviously.

i also think the audience doesn't need to hear elphaba make that promise ???? her actions later speak louder than words,, and it's also nice that we don't have to go back to that promise to explain elphie wanting glinda to come with her at the end. it's not just bc of a promise that elphaba wants glinda to come with her,, it's bc glinda is her best and only friend and she still desires companionship. she doesn't want to lose her. we don't need a verbal promise to understand that.

[whatevertheywant]

Most mainstream actors creators when fans point out the chemistry between same sex characters: Oh...um...yeah,I never thought about it like that. Uhhh...I'm glad that resonated with some people but they're just good friends

Literally everyone past and present involved in any production of Wicked

Cynthia: Yes,that was a very powerful experience and I channeled my own experiences as a queer Black woman into the role

Ariana: Um excuse you tf u mean "subtext"??? Glinda's strap is sparkly and PINK! I know personally that it ain't green 😏

[lavupland]

jon m. chu watching us all cry and scream over written descriptions of a single teaser trailer

[fateyp]

OMG KILL ME NOW - All the favs are confirmed songs in Wicked For Good

As expected, the 2 new songs are for the GORGEOUS GIRLS and so excited about that (ofc a new song to showcase JB more would have been nice!!)

AND THEN THERE IS THE PIC OF GLINDA ON HER WEDDING DAY STANDING ACROSS FROM ELPHABA. KILL ME NOW. They have so much distance between them in this shot. I can feel the tension and storytelling. HELP!

🩷💚 🩷💙 💚💙 ❤️‍🩹💔❤️‍🩹

[belanekra]

Jon Chu said "lesbian witch mating dance" and Ari and Cynthia said "hold my beer"

[h2shonotes]

Representation Matters: Wicked’s Long-Overdue Change

For over 21 years, #Wicked the Musical has been a Broadway commercial powerhouse. On stage is a progressive story about female friendship, discrimination, and governmental corruption, yet behind the curtain, its casting practices told a different story—one of exclusion.

No Black woman had ever been cast as Elphaba full-time on Broadway, and no wheelchair-using actor had ever played Nessarose. The resistance to change was so ingrained that when Cynthia Erivo auditioned for the Wicked movie, in an interview with the New York Times, the actress who is one O away from EGOT, confessed she didn’t believe the role was available to her. She had seen the gatekeepers keep the door shut for too long.

It took an Asian American director, Jon M. Chu, to create a ripple of change. He cast Erivo as Elphaba, breaking a two-decade barrier, and Marissa Bode as Nessarose—the first wheelchair-using actress to play the role. The movie became a cultural moment, proving that inclusion doesn’t just work—it is financially profitable.

And now, Broadway is following that lead. First came news of the casting of Lencia Kebede as the first Black actress permitted to perform the role of Broadway's Elpheba full-time. Recently announced, Jenna Bainbridge will become the first wheelchair-using actor to play Nessarose on stage, a direct result of the film’s impact.

There was no Broadway producer consciousness raising. Wicked the film's $720 million box office is what has had a ripple effect. This is why representation matters. When new voices break through, entire industries shift.

Much like the story of Wicked, we are learning in real time the consequences of misinformation and the destructiveness of authoritarianism. The new U.S. government under Trump is actively targeting DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives and threatening punishment for any private business or public institution standing for the values of the former republic. White nationalist officials ban books, erode health and education standards. mine the planet, defund the arts, scapegoat and erase the collective gains of women, people of color, marginalized communities.

Something bad is happening...

H2shO™️ is built on this belief—everyBODY deserves to be seen, heard, and included. Joy is a form of resistance. It is up to us to demand CHANGE. BE the change and financially support diverse projects and companies upholding DEI initiatives. Redirecting consumption is what reshapes business and societal priorities.

Large corporations spend millions lobbying for policies that protect their profitability. When businesses see commercial benefits in integrating equity and inclusion, they pressure lawmakers to align policies with these values. This is how we defy the gravity of the far right.

[cloudshades]

via instagram

[bricksh0tz]

guys i saw the director of wicked (jon chu) and he waved at me 😁

[theblvcksupreme]

Academy Award Nominee Cynthia Erivo 🥹

British Academy Film Awards Nominee

Critics Choice Award Nominee

Golden Globes Award Nominee

Screen Actors Guild Award Nominee

[hyperloverofhyperfixations]

I just bought new pairs of chore gloves and I bought a pink pair and a green pair... I saw wicked like 3 weeks ago, and I'm still seeing it everywhere I go.

[lavupland]

Jon Chu's new Instagram profile photo and countdown on his story! 💚🩷

[lonelylittledot]

Wicked

~ a Wicked scholar's thoughts on the movie

Okay. I had detached myself from any feelings about the movie truly years ago, and so I walked into the movie theatre with really low expectations.

My overall opinion: it was not a bad adaptation. I'd expected to give it 3/10, it turned out as a solid 6.5/10.

Here are just a few things that stuck out to me:

The landscapes - didn't hate them but didn't like them.

The costumes - amazing. Pretty much every outfit slayed. I feel like they could have been even a bit more extravagant, but they were great as they were. - As for Elphaba, I think my favorite outfit was the first Shiz dress and the post-Popular outfit. - Glinda's bubble dress was exquisite, and I really liked her Emerald City ensemble, although I do miss the yellow dress, I feel like it doesn't get enough love

I liked Ariana's G(a)linda surprisingly a lot. Maybe it's because I know she's a huge Wicked fan, but I felt like her love for the source material really showed.

I wasn't really sold on Cynthia. Don't get me wrong, she has a truly fabulous voice, and she absolutely did shine in the big, loud parts - but overall, I wasn't a fan of her versions of the songs. She looked and acted great, though.

Michelle Yeoh, the woman you are. Fantastic casting, no notes.

Jonathan. Oh, dear, Johnathan Bailey. Looks? Hot. Vocals? Gorgeous. Vibes? Flawless. I wish he'd played the role a decade ago, because he does look forty and not college-age, but I think everything else about him truly makes up for it.

Speaking of - I liked that Fiyero got just a few tiny little additional scenes/lines, really helped to flesh out his character more.

Grammar-nazi Elphaba, my beloved.

Listen, I have shipped Fiyero and Elphaba since I was 14. And I'm not going to stop now. I stan them, I loved their chemistry in the movie, I will ship them until the day I die.

The direction on G(a)linda/Elphaba - hella gay. But I didn't quite feel their chemistry, neither friendly nor romantic. It was okay, but didn't blow me away.

IDINA AND KRISTEN???? love love love love my og queens

The movie dragged on. A lot. This is my only really big criticism, unfortunately it's a really important one. I think they could easily have made the whole musical into one 3h long movie, and it would have been much better for the pacing. - there weren't even that many added scenes; and a lot of the additions were pretty good, actually - some were totally unnecessary though. like the guards chasing Elphaba and Glinda and the whole balloon shenanigans? - similarly, many scenes were just unnecessarily stretched out; with the camera staying too long in one place or one moment being dragged out way too long - some of the songs just had slightly longer (like 2 bars?) breakes between the choruses added for no reason

Defying Gravity. This is the same thing as one of the previous comments, but I feel like it deserves its separate mention. The pacing in that scene (or, here, more like a collection of scenes) was extremely off, the song losing all of its momentum by being chopped up into pieces. And the way they made us wait for the iconic vocalization at the end; I honestly thought I'd die of boredom.

Sometimes I felt like the movie couldn't decide if it wanted to be more stage-y and theatrical, and lean into the whole campy vibe, or more cinematic and "naturally" acted; and sometimes it switched weirdly between the two.

There was one single thing that looked way better onscreen than onstage. The Lion cub. In the movie, he looked extremely cute, tiny little adorable darling baby kitten. Way better than the creepy-ass puppet they use in the show.

There were many more tasty little details that I simply couldn't remember/write down, or else I wouldn't have been able to pay any attention to the movie. Once it's available, maybe I'll rewatch and dissect it in more detail (I should also finally watch the 1939 Wizard of Oz, it's a CRIME that I still haven't! I'm sure people who know it well could also see many references in the new Wicked - even I noticed the ruby slippers in Popular, for example!).

Summing up this unnecessarily long rant:

It was not a bad adaptation; although I doubt it will make many people into Wicked fans. At the end of the day, it's clearly a story made for the stage, and even though it was transferred to the big screen fairly well, I think it still belongs in the regular theatre, not the movie one.

[disarmluna]

[h2shonotes]

As a lover of film, theater, and music, I’m captivated by the creative process. Discovering how the magic comes together is an essential part of the experience. Wicked: Part One stands out as one of the rare movie musicals that didn’t rely on pre-recorded tracks. What is the process of this? How do you record LIVE vocals on a set and capture perfect sound?

For my fellow cinephiles and musical theater enthusiasts, here’s a deep dive into the extraordinary collaboration it takes to create truly exquisite art.

[cjbolan]

After "Wicked" what if Jon M. Chu adapts "EPIC: The Musical" into a movie next?