THE Evil the films will be extraordinarily long. An adaptation of the original Broadway play The films are designed to change public perception of the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz (1939)with a cast starring Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh and more. While the Evil The film will be extremely inspired by the musical, new elements will be added to expand its running time.
According to details originally released by Fandango, the first Evil The film is two hours and 40 minutes long. The Broadway musical, by comparison, runs two hours and 45 minutes. The sequel will likely see the on-screen adaptation double the running time of the original musical.
What the runtime means for Wicked
There is new content added
Evil It has an exceptional length and, unlike the musical, there will be no intermission. With the original having a wide variety of music and a fully developed story The added material is a combination of extended scenes and all-new content. For example, it has been confirmed that Dorothy will be joining Evilof the cast, although she did not appear in the original Broadway play. The trailers showed its presence and hinted at an entirely new story beyond the beloved original musical, which will likely be visited in the second part of the story.
There will also be new music in addition to all the original performances. These songs are expected to arrive Wicked: Part 2although the musical sequences were expanded upon in the first film, only to gain attention during the upcoming awards season. The films will be released one year apartso new songs can take advantage of two different seasons to win Best Original Song. In addition to these additional songs, new subplots will likely come to fruition The Wizard of Ozcharacters. The added material means a new story for both music viewers and entirely new audiences.
Our Take on the Wicked Runtime
Long length can be too much of a good thing
Evil Most well-known songs and story beats occur in Act I of the musical...
An expansion of story details is not seen as a bad thing, especially by fans of the Broadway musical or the original novel that inspired it, or even of The Wizard of Oz. A longer running time means that characters that may not have been fully developed on stage can get more screen time and that musical sequences can become more complex and dazzling to watch, like Fiyero's "Dancing Through Life" with backdrops in movement.. There is a chance, however, that in the end this could be too much of a good thing.
In the end, Evil The best-known songs and story beats occur in Act I of the musical, which unfolds in the first part of the two films. Carrying out the second part of the story in the same way may make the story a little too long for some fans, making the first film much more successful than the second.
Of course, audiences may surprise box office analysts with their commitment to seeing both parts of the film, as many analysts anticipated that the opening against Moana 2 and Gladiator II would hurt Evil initially, but this turned out not to be true.
The Wicked Runtime didn't hurt its box office
Wicked is the second highest-grossing Broadway musical adaptation
...has earned over $477 million worldwide as of December 14, 2024.
While there is often concern that longer films will turn off viewers, this has not been true for Evil. With the increased use of streaming, moviegoers often consider whether they want to pay the price of a movie ticket and snack or simply wait for a film to become available on a digital platform they already use. The idea of being able to watch a film in the comfort of home pleases many people, but watching Evil on the big screen and fully immersing yourself in the film feels like a victory.
This could be expected by longtime fans. Evil remains one of the longest-running and best-selling Broadway shows of all time. He broke his own ticket sales record at the Gershwin Theater more than 20 times during his time there (via Broadway World). It was also the first Broadway musical to gross more than $3 million in one week (via Poster). With an appetite for it on Broadway, which isn't as easily accessible as a movie theater, breaking sales records, it's not all that surprising that the film is enjoying great financial success.
Evil The box office opening weekend grossed more than $162 million, surpassing the previous highest-selling opening weekend for a musical adaptation by a landslide (via Deadline). The record was held by Les Misérables when it was released in 2012 with a worldwide opening of $103 million. It has since grossed over $477 million worldwide as of December 14, 2024 (via Mojo Box Office).
These big box office numbers mark some impressive milestones for Evil. It is the biggest earner for a stage-to-screen musical adaptation since Grease in 1978. Grease held the record for more than 40 years. It is also currently the second highest-grossing adaptation of a Broadway musicalfollowing behind Mom Mia at less than $150 million when the latter was released in 2008. Evilhowever, it is also still in theaters as of this writing, making it entirely possible that Evil could overcome Mom Mia before it leaves theaters for good.
Source: Fandango, Broadway World, Poster, Deadline, Mojo Box Office