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Wickedis finally coming to the big screen 21 years after the hit musical debuted on Broadway and nearly 30 years after Gregory Maguire’s novelWicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.It has been a long road to the big screen, with multiple delays and different creative teams trying to bring the story to life. The upcoming film, directed by Jon M. Chu and starring Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda, will be released by Universal Pictures. Universal Pictures has held the rights to the property for years, and its struggles to adapt the book into a feature film eventually led to the hit Broadway musical. One studio, however, seemingly has taken advantage of Universal’s failed attempts to makeWickedinto a feature film:Disney.
Disney has had a long and complicated history withThe Wizard of Ozfranchise for years. While Disney was never going to get the rights toWicked, as it seemed Universal Pictures would never let those rights go, the Mouse House seemingly tried to circumvent this by making their spin on the Wicked concept. For two years, from 2013 to 2014, Disney released five projects that looked to capture the magic of Wicked:Oz the Great and Powerful,Frozen,Once Upon a TimeSeason 3,Maleficent, andInto the Woods. Many of these projects entered development and were released around the time Universal Pictures was moving forward on their plans for a film adaptation ofWicked, with the originalplan for a 2016 release date. Here is the fascinating two-year period at Disney that, all inspired byWicked, impacted many paths in the company’s future that are still playing out in 2024.
2013: ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ and ‘Frozen’
Oz the Great and Powerfulwas Disney’s attemptto do its ownWicked-inspired reimaging ofThe Wizard of Ozproperty,including featuring an origin for the Wicked Witch of the West. Instead of telling the story from the perspective of the Wicked Witch,Oz the Great and Powerfulis a prequel of how the Wizard (James Franco) arrived in Oz and later would be able to pass himself off as a powerful figure while also exploring how a sweet woman named Theodora (Mila Kunis) would transform into the iconic villain, The Wicked Witch of the West. Directed by Sam Raimi and featuring an all-star cast that included Rachel Weisz as Envora/The Wicked Witch of the East and Michelle Williams as Glinda the Good Witch,Oz the Great and Powerfulopened in theaters on July 12, 2025.
The movie received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $234 million domestically and $493 million worldwide against a $215 million budget. Plans for a sequel were announced, but they were quietly shut down. Thankfully,Disney had an unexpected ace up its sleeve for later that year,Frozen.
An adaptation of the Hans Christen Anderson story “The Snow Queen”,Frozenwas a movie that underwent various development changes through it’s long production history. The significant innovation that finally made the movie click into place was transforming the Snow Queen Elsa from a traditional villain into a vulnerable and sympathetic character, like howWickedreimagined the Wicked Witch of the West. This breakthrough came with what would becomeFrozen’s iconic song “Let it Go.“WhenDisney castWickedstar member Idina Menzel as Elsa, the connections betweenFrozen’s “Let it Go” andWicked’s “Defying Gravity” became apparent. Both songs were powerful anthems about a character taking control of a power perceived by others as a curse and reclaiming it as a sense of strength.
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Frozengrossed $400 million at the domestic box office and $1.2 billion worldwide. It became the highest-grossing animated film in Walt Disney Animation history before beingsurpassed by its sequel in 2019. TheFrozensoundtrack sold 10 million copies in 2014 alone, becoming the best-selling album worldwide that year.“Let It Go” became a global sensation, winning Best Original Song at the Academy Awards and the Grammy for Best Original Song Written for Visual Media. It became the ninth-best-selling song of 2014. It was the first song from a Disney movie to reach the Billboard Top 10 since “Colors of the Wind” fromPocahontasand ended up peaking at #5 on the Billboard Top 100.
With Idina Menzel voicing Elsa, “Let It Go” being favorable compared to “Defying Gravity,” and the sister dynamic between Elsa and Anna being parallel to the dynamic between Elphaba and Glinda,Disney appeared to capture theWickedmagic with their own original property. In a slight bit of irony for musical theater fans,Frozen’s original songs were done by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Robert Lopez’s musical score forAvenue Qfamously beatWickedat the 2004 Tony’s, whereAvenue Qalso won Best Musical over the perceived frontrunner,Wicked. WithFrozen, Disney combined the talents ofAvenue Q’s songwriter withWicked’s lead star and made a juggernaut. Yet Disney would not be done trying to undermine Universal’s upcomingWickedfilm, as 2014 had three distinct attempts at tapping into the popularity of musicals.
2014: ‘Once Upon a Time,’ ‘Maleficent,’ and ‘Into the Woods’
In 2014,Disney’s apparent fascination withWickedas a concept took hold as they had three distinctive projects that could be seen as being inspired by the iconic story. The entire second half ofOnce Upon a TimeSeason 3 was dedicated toThe Wizard of Oz, with The Wicked Witch of the West being the season’s primary antagonist.Maleficentlooked to explore the events ofSleeping Beautythrough the eyes of the famous villain, as Wicked did with the Wicked Witch of the West. Finally,Into the Woodswas Disney’s attempt at bringing a beloved fairy tale-inspired musical to the big screen.
Once Upon a Timedebuted in 2011, and the central hook of the series was to see classic fairytale characters, specifically ones from Disney canon, reimagined in an interconnected universe that showed them in their fairy tale origins while also in the real world. The series' first two seasons highlighted characters fromSnow White,Pinocchio, andSleeping Beautywhile expanding on travel between different “realms” like Wonderland and Neverland. They soon set their sites on one of the most iconic: Oz. The second half ofOnce Upon a TimeSeason 3, which debuted in March 2014, wasWizard of Oz-centric, with the main antagonist being The Wicked Witch of the West, played by Rebecca Madler.
LikeWicked,Once Upon a Timeexplored the Wicked Witch’s origin. The series reveals her real name, Zelena, and that she is both the firstborn daughter of Cora/The Queen of Hearts fromAlice in Wonderlandand the half-sister of Regina/The Evil Queen fromSnow White. Zelena would remain on the series for the rest of the run; the timing of aWizard of Oz-themedOnce Upon a Timeseason could not be overlooked. It was one year after the release ofOz: The Great Powerful, four months afterFrozen, and concluded just 19 days before the next Wicked-inspired Disney project,Maleficent, would hit theaters.
The concept of taking Maleficent, easily Disney Animation’s most iconic villain, and telling her side of the story ofSleeping Beautyto make her more sympathetic is theWickedformula through and through. The idea for the film began development at Disney in 2003, the same year thatWickeddebuted on Broadway. Even the film producer,Don Hahn, admitted this when he said,“We thought we could do a ‘Wicked’ thing with Maleficent and show her back story. That was just the germ of the idea, and it sat in animation for a while. We did some development and some drawings on it, but then it went pretty quickly over to live-action, where it sat.”
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Maleficent’s director, Robert Stromberg, was a production designer forOz the Great and Powerful. The comparisons forWickedandMaleficentwere apparent to fans and critics alike, although that didn’t stop the movie from becoming a big hit. With $241 million domestic and $758 million worldwide, Maleficent easily outgrossedOz: The Great and Powerful, and between that andFrozenshowed thatDisney didn’t so much need theWizard of OzIP but instead usedWickedas a template for their properties.
While Disney could not secure the rights toWicked, in December 2014, they released their own adaptation of a classic musical that looked to reimagine classic literary characters:Into the Woods.Into the Woodsopened in San Diego in 1986 and was created with music and lyrics by the legendary Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Lapine. The story interconnects variousGrimm fairy tales, including “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” and two that Disney previously adapted into films, “Cinderella” and “Rapunzel.”
After years of going through development hell at many studios, Disney began developing the musical film adaptation in 2012. LikeWicked,Into the Woodswas a popular musical that looked more mature than the conventions of fairy tales, so Disney’s decision to adapt it made sensedespite the movie being darkerthan their typical fare.Into the Woodswas a hit at the box office, grossing $213 million worldwide against its $50 million budget, yet it failed to grab awards attention like Disney hoped it would.After two years of Disney tapping intoWicked’s popularity, the studio finally seemed to be done as it shifted its priority to other brands. But these two years were the latest in Disney’s long, complicated history withThe Wizard of Oz, one that predatesWicked.
Disney’s Long History with ‘The Wizard of Oz’
What is fascinating about Disney’s attempts to copy the success ofWickedis how it ties into the studio’s history with bothThe Wizard of Ozand their attempts to extend copyright laws. Walt Disney attempted to secure the rights toThe Wizard of Oz shortly after the release ofSnow White and the Seven Dwarves, but MGM had already acquired the rights. Ironically, the success ofSnow White and the Seven Dwarvesgave MGM the confidence to greenlight and fast-trackThe Wizard of Oz. In 1954, Walt Disney acquired the rights to 11 of theWizard of Oznovels, planning to adapt them for television. The project never materialized, and after Walt Disney’s death, the studio sat on the rights for another 20 years before finally makingReturn to Oz, putting it into production just three years before Disney’s option on theOzbook rights lapsed.
Return to Oz, however, proved to be a box office disappointment, with many at the time criticizing it for being so dark compared to the original. The film hasgained a cult followingover the years, but after the movie came out, Disney gave up its option on the film rights, and soon,The Wizard of Ozbooks fell into the public domain. UntilOz the Great and Powerful, the only other time Disney attempted anything withThe Wizard of Ozbrand was the 2005 television film,The Muppets' Wizard of Oz.
Despite Disney owning the rights to many ofThe Wizard of Ozbooks at the time ofReturn to Oz, elements commonly associated with the franchise originated from the iconic 1939 film and, therefore, are owned by MGM. The two most significant aspects includethe iconic ruby slippersand The Wicked Witch’s particular shade of green. Disney chose to license the ruby slippers from MGM for a hefty fee inReturn to Oz, increasing the movie’s budget. Despite seeming like a prequel to the 1939 film,Oz the Great and Powerfulwas not legally allowed to call itself that and could not use any likenesses of characters in the original. Meanwhile, they hired a lawyer to help create their distinctive hue of green for the Wicked Witch of the West so as not to infringe on MGM’s copyright.
The Wizard of Ozbooks might now be in the public domain. Warner Bros., which acquired the rights toThe Wizard of Ozfilm as part of purchasing the MGM Library in 1985, has retained its iconic trademark images from the film.They can partially do this because of extensions to copyright law, which Disney as a company is largely responsible for, so they could maintain control over Mickey Mouse.
Disney Moved on from ‘Wicked,’ While Universal’s Adaptation Finally Took Flight
After two years of Disney aggressively trying to capture its ownWicked, the fad seemingly stopped. Why exactly did that happen? Part of the reason was thatDisney began to focus on other propertiesit had purchased. In 2009, they acquired Marvel Comics and, therefore, Marvel Studios, which by 2012 releasedThe Avengersand grossed $1 billion at the worldwide box office to become one of the biggest movies of all time. They then invested heavily in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has paid off as it became the most successful film franchise of all time.
In 2012, they also acquired Lucasfilm and quickly went to work on making newStar Warsmovies.Star Warsand Marvel took up a lot of Disney’s schedule and priority. In 2015, one year afterMaleficentandInto the Woods, Disney releasedAvengers: Age of Ultron,Ant-Man,andThe Force Awakens, with the following year havingCaptain America: Civil War,Doctor Strange, andRogue One. Disney had two franchises doing record numbers and did so by tapping into the strength of their IP. The need to try and replicateWickedwas no longer needed, as everyone wanted to replicate Disney.
In addition, whileMaleficentwas an attempt to copy theWickedformula, it was part of a new growing trend at Disney to do live-action remakes of their classic animated material, which was kicked off in 2010 byAlice in Wonderland. Disney might not have the rights to the timeless classicThe Wizard of Ozor the hit musicalWicked, but they didn’t need them because they had their back catalog of timeless classic musicals.
Remakes ofBeauty and the Beast,Aladdin, andThe Lion Kinggrossed $1 billion at the worldwide box office, showing that Disney could capture both audiences for musicals and had the iconic brand imagery people wanted to see from a big-budget spectacle.Wicked’s influence isn’t entirely gone, as seen in 2021’sCruella, which, likeMaleficentandWickedbefore it, looked to tell the origin of a villain and show the story audiences thought they knew from their perspective.
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The other factor was that Disney’s attempts to beatWickedto the big screen did end up working, asUniversal Pictures failed to meet their original 2016 release date. Disney successfully got multipleWicked-like movies and a television season before Universal Pictures got the real thing out. In 2016, Universal Pictures announced thatWickedwould hittheaters on Jul 11, 2025. Production on the movie was delayed, and the studio decided to release the ill-advisedCatson the vacant release date, opposite Disney’s ownStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Wickedwould be slated for December 2021 before being delayed again due to the COVID-19 pandemic. NowWicked - Part Oneis expected to finally open in theaters on July 19, 2025, eight years after its original planned release date and nearly a decade after Disney spent much time and money beatingWickedto the big screen. The result was an interesting two years in the studio’s history.
WhileOz the Great and Powerfulis primarily forgotten,Frozenbecame one of the studio’s most celebrated movies in years and helped usher in a new age of Walt Disney Animation. In fact, Disney’s investments in Walt Disney Animation, Lucasfilm, Pixar, Marvel Studios, and now 20th Century Fox have all paid off, with Disney Animation’s newest film,Moana 2, being such a massivethreat toWickedthat the musical opted to bump up its release date to avoid direct competition. Meanwhile, Pixar Animation’sInside Out 2and Marvel Studios’Deadpool & Wolverineare the year’s first and second highest-grossing movies.Wickedhas a good chance of coming in number three, and though Elphaba can defy gravity, she will have a hard time defying Disney at the box office.
Yet it says something: after all this time,the audience’s anticipation for a properWickedadaptation is still high. It is a movie fans have waited over 20 years for, and no otherWizard of Oz-inspired prequel or reimaging of a classic villain as a potential hero would ever truly be able to replicate it. Disney might have had some of the ingredients, but the original alchemy ofWickedwas unique, and it connected with the audience that nothing could ever truly replace it or replicate it…but an argument could be made:Frozencame pretty close.Wickedis in theaters now.
