On April 26, 2022, musical theater fans got the latest news about the Hollywood treatment of the Broadway blockbuster “Wicked.” The biggest shocker is that the film adaptation — which stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda — will be not one movie, but two.

Director John Chu explained his decision on Twitter: “As we prepared this production over the last year, it became increasingly clear that it would be impossible to wrestle the story of 'Wicked' into a single film without doing real damage to it.” The double feature will be released by Christmas of 2024 and 2025.

Twitter fans are not sold on the concept, with one user wondering, "Are they just gonna stop part 1 at [the song] Defying Gravity? Are they gonna drag out Act 2 for a second film?” Another user called “Wicked” just "another Broadway musical that is going to be ruined by a movie" — it'll be a while before this is proven right or wrong.