Universal is aiming high for their planned Wicked adaptation based on the uber-popular stage musical. Deadline is reporting that musical producer Marc Platt, book writer Winnie Holzman, and songwriter Stephen Schwartz have begun meeting with possible directors. The list includes J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Mission Impossible 3), James Mangold (Knight and Day, 3:10 To Yuma), Ryan Murphy (Glee, Eat Pray Love), and Rob Marshall (Chicago, Pirates 4).
They cite the billion dollar success of Alice in Wonderland as a reason for this fairy tale adaptation. Mamma Mia! also grossed over $600 for Universal so it makes sense they are interested. It is still a ways off as more meetings will take place this fall. I’ve never seen the play but you can check out the synopsis below.
Wicked, a Wizard of Oz prequel, is based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and focuses on the early relationship between Glinda the Good and Elphaba, a green-skinned beauty before she ended up flying on a broomstick.
The musical was originally going to be a film, but the stage version is a massive hit, bringing in an average of $1.4 million a week. As for directors, Ryan Murphy and Rob Marshall seem like obvious choices due to their musical backgrounds but I’d love to see Mangold do something like this. I really can’t see Abrams taking this on and would rather he would focus on original scripts, especially after we see how Super 8 turns out next summer.
Who would you like to see take on a Wicked film?