Wicked Surely Can’t Be THIS Long, Right?

The upbeat, colorful marketing for the sure-fire vacation deed Wicked has tiptoed astir a precise important fact. It’s that erstwhile Wicked hits theaters connected November 22, it’s lone fractional the story. This is simply “Part One,” though it’s not being called that, with “Part Two” coming a twelvemonth later. Knowing that, 1 would astir apt expect the movie mentation to be a much manageable length, particularly since it’s based connected a long-running, super-popular Broadway philharmonic that itself runs nether 3 hours. But, apparently, that’s not the case.

Tickets for Wicked are not yet connected merchantability but the movie has recovered its mode onto the ticketing site, Fandango, which lists its tally clip arsenic 2 hours and 40 minutes. The AMC Theaters leafage says the same—though, of note, Moviefone says 2 hours and 22 minutes. io9 has reached retired to Universal to spot what the close runtime is and we volition update this station if/when we perceive back.

Assuming it’s 2 hours and 40 minutes though, that’s astir the nonstop aforesaid magnitude arsenic the entirety of the Broadway show. The show, give oregon take, runs 2 hours and 45 minutes with an intermission. So someway this movie version—even if it’s 2 hours and 22 minutes— has fundamentally doubled the magnitude of the story.

Now, you afloat expect it to beryllium astatine slightest a small longer. Movie adaptations of musicals tin dive deeper into the characters and the world, astir ever person an other opus oregon two, etc. So sure, you get that each movie isn’t going to beryllium a 1:1 divided successful half. It was ne'er going to beryllium 90 minutes. But to beryllium astir treble that is wild.

There’s besides the small substance that astir radical see the archetypal fractional of Wicked to beryllium importantly amended than the second, chiefly due to the fact that it has the much upbeat, exciting, and fashionable songs. Will Wicked portion 1 beryllium astonishing and past everyone waits a twelvemonth for an inferior but inactive precise agelong finale? It’s surely a possibility.

Whatever the lawsuit though, determination are definite to beryllium radical who assume, astatine a magnitude astir adjacent to the show, Wicked is the afloat story. Those radical whitethorn not to beryllium blessed erstwhile the credits rotation successful November unless, of course, the movie is that good. And frankly, that’s what we’re hoping for.

Directed by Jon M. Chu, based connected the philharmonic with euphony and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and publication by Winnie Holzman (who wrote the script), Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James, Keala Settle, and Peter Dinklage. It opens November 22.

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