85 years ago, The Wizard of Oz, adapted from Frank L. Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, opened in theaters and took the world by storm. While the film’s initial popularity subsided after its big screen run, it became even more popular following its 1956 broadcast TV premiere, and all these decades later, The Wizard of Oz is frequently considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. Now Wicked, a new adaptation of Baum’s beloved 1900 book is just months away from hitting the 2024 movies schedule, and star Cynthia Erivo celebrated The Wizard of Oz’s 85th anniversary by posting cool side-by-sides of her movie and the 1939 classic.
Cynthia Erivo is playing Elphaba, a.k.a. The Wicked Witch of the West, in Wicked, which is adapted from the same-named Broadway stage music, which in turn was adapted from Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which utilizes characters and settings from the original Wizard of Oz lore. As if there already wasn’t enough to look forward from the two-part Wicked theatrical event, the below pictures from Erivo’s Instagram Stories is sure to increase excitement for many, myself included:
While there have been numerous adaptations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for more than 120 years now, it’s safe to say that The Wizard of Oz is still the most well-known of the bunch, and probably will be for all time. However, there’s a good chance that Wicked could come at least somewhat close to achieving the same kind of popularity, especially since the designs of its two central characters draw closely from The Wizard of Oz’s. As you can see, Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba looks remarkably similar Margaret Hamilton’s Wicked Witch of the West, and Ariana Grande’s Galinda stands out nicely next to Billie Burke’s Glinda the Good Witch of the North.
As mentioned earlier, Wicked also has the benefit of being a book-to screen adaptation that’s being told over two movies rather than just one, although Part Two won’t come out until November 2025. Still, with this arguably being the biggest Wizard of Oz adaptation to play on the big screen since 2013’s Oz, the Great and Powerful, as well as how popular the Wicked Broadway production has been, I’m looking forward to seeing how well Part One performs in theaters. Maybe there’s a chance it could join Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine in crossing the $1 billion mark.
Directed by John M. Chu and written by Winnie Holman and Dana Fox, Wicked: Part One comes out on November 22, and its other prominent cast members include Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey and Bowen Yang. If you’d like to revisit The Wizard of Oz for its 85th anniversary, it can be streamed with a Max subscription.