Wicked Would've Been So Much Worse If It Wasn't Split Into Two Movies

Adapting the critically-acclaimed Broadway musical Wicked into two movies has proven to be an amazing idea. Initially, there was concern that the story of Wicked didn’t need to be split into two parts. After all, the Wicked musical is two hours and 45 minutes long, including the 15-minute intermission. Meanwhile, just the first Wicked movie has a runtime of two hours and 40 minutes. However, the concerns were proven to be unnecessary when the first Wicked movie ended at the perfect moment, right when Elphaba takes flight after singing “Defying Gravity.”

The story of Wicked follows Elphaba and Glinda, who eventually become known as the Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch of the North, respectively, as they form an unlikely friendship at Shiz University. The cast of Wicked includes Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande-Butera, Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum. Upon its release, reviews for Wicked have been amazing, and it is now undoubtedly clear that the story of Elphaba and Glinda needed to be adapted across two movies.

Wicked Shows Why Splitting The Musical Into Two Movies Was The Right Decision

Splitting The Wicked Musical Into Two Movies Allowed For More Character Development And World Building

By adapting the story of the iconic musical across two movies, the first Wicked movie was able to flesh out the world and characters before the release of Wicked: For Good. One can easily split the first Wicked movie into two parts, as well. The first part introduces characters like Elphaba, Glinda, Fiyero, Boq, and Nessarose and chronicles their time together at Shiz University, whereas the second part sees Elphaba and Glinda travel to Emerald City to meet the Wizard of Oz.

If the Wicked musical was adapted into just one movie, then it only would have been able to include the essential elements of the story.

If the whole story of the Wicked musical was only adapted in one movie, it would have been extremely rushed and there wouldn’t have been enough time to properly develop many of the supporting characters. A character like Boq, for example, gets much more attention in the movie than he does in the musical. Furthermore, the first Wicked movie was able to properly showcase Elphaba’s backstory and the current state of the land of Oz without instantly needing to rush to the next plot point.

Wicked Would’ve Had To Cut Parts Of The Musical To Make It All Into One Movie

The Story Of The Wicked Musical Being Adapted Into Just One Movie Would Have Been Too Rushed

If the Wicked musical was adapted into just one movie, then it only would have been able to include the essential elements of the story. Characters like Elphaba, Glinda, and Fiyero would have still gotten sufficient screen time, but the aforementioned Boq and Nessarose probably would have only had a few minor moments. If Wicked was only one movie, a lot less time would have been spent at Shiz University, which ultimately would have resulted in the world of Oz feeling a lot less fleshed out.

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It’s also possible that some of the songs in Wicked would have been cut out if it was only one movie. This would have been tragic since the Wicked musical includes so many iconic songs. While “Defying Gravity” and “Popular” are two of the more well-known songs from the Wicked musical, fans want to see as many songs as possible in the movie adaptations. Therefore, it would have infuriated some fans if their favorite song was cut from the Wicked movie. Ultimately, it was undeniably the right decision to split Wicked into two movies.