‘Wicked’ Moves Up 5 Days to Pre-Thanksgiving Weekend Release

The Broadway musical adaptation from Universal will have a weekend to build word-of-mouth ahead of the release of “Moana 2”

wicked-cynthia-erivo-ariana-grande
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in "Wicked" (Universal Pictures)

Universal is moving the release of “Wicked: Part 1” up by five days to November 22, putting it in theaters the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Insiders at the studio say that the move is being done to help build word-of-mouth ahead of the critical holiday weekend, with fans of the “Wizard of Oz” prequel Broadway musical hopefully building post-release buzz that will draw in families and general audiences the following weekend and well into December.

“Wicked” will now hit theaters alongside Paramount’s “Gladiator II,” a film that is unlikely to have significant audience overlap with the musical as it is a sequel to Ridley Scott’s violent sword-and-sandals epic.

Comments

One response to “‘Wicked’ Moves Up 5 Days to Pre-Thanksgiving Weekend Release”

  1. Robert McCoy Avatar

    “Strategic” move by Universal to avoid Moana 2…because musicals and animated sequels for toddlers totally compete for the same audience.

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