Wicked: Part 1 | Thanksgiving 2024 | Jon M Chu to direct | Ariana Grande is Galinda. Cynthia Erivo is Elphaba

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

2 hours ago, grim22 said:

It also feels like most of the cast is somehow in worse shape in their careers than when the first one came out with their franchise plays not working out. Henry Golding had Snake Eyes, Constance Wu burned a few bridges with her sitcom renewal meltdown, Gemma Chan is in Eternals which is quickly moving downwards on reviews and her performance is not exactly getting great reviews - which is a problem when the next movie focuses on her character. Awakwafina is probably the one who has had an upward trajectory since.

 

It's definitely weird that there was no sequel put into development asap for a 2020 release pre-pandemic. Might have been an issue with Golding, Wu and Chan's schedules.

The last I heard about the CRA sequel was about the big pay disparity issue with the screenwriters:  https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/crazy-rich-asians-screenwriter-adele-lim-exits-sequel-pay-disparity-dispute-1236431/

 

Maybe it just soured Chu on the whole thing? He's busy with other projects. Also, when Constance Wu had her social media meltdown about her sitcom getting renewed, Gemma Chan inadvertently liked a tweet from a journalist saying Wu was notoriously rude/difficult to work with...

 

*

 

I liked In the Heights and in retrospect, maybe it didn't do that badly (especially considering HBO Max), though the budget was probably a little high. I'm not hugely attached to Wicked as a property, but it's fairly popular as modern musicals go. The the concept is easy to drill down to a couple of sentences, so easy to sell in trailers/ads.

 

A fanbase of a Broadway show can only take a movie so far, the moviemakers should be respectful of the show while not feeling too beholden to it or the original cast. I wonder if the huge success of Hamilton on Disney+ has probably made fans of other musicals less accepting of movie adaptations in general.

Edited October 29, 2021 by BoxOfficeFangrl

[grim22]

34 minutes ago, BoxOfficeFangrl said:

The last I heard about the CRA sequel was about the big pay disparity issue with the screenwriters:  https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/crazy-rich-asians-screenwriter-adele-lim-exits-sequel-pay-disparity-dispute-1236431/

 

Maybe it just soured Chu on the whole thing? He's busy with other projects. Also, when Constance Wu had her social media meltdown about her sitcom getting renewed, Gemma Chan inadvertently liked a tweet from a journalist saying Wu was notoriously rude/difficult to work with...

 

*

 

I liked In the Heights and in retrospect, maybe it didn't do that badly (especially considering HBO Max), though the budget was probably a little high. I'm not hugely attached to Wicked as a property, but it's fairly popular as modern musicals go. The the concept is easy to drill down to a couple of sentences, so easy to sell in trailers/ads.

 

A fanbase of a Broadway show can only take a movie so far, the moviemakers should be respectful of the show while not feeling too beholden to it or the original cast. I wonder if the huge success of Hamilton on Disney+ has probably made fans of other musicals less accepting of movie adaptations in general.

Isn't Hamilton not a movie though? It's just filmed performances of the play itself. There's a difference between that and adapting something that is already on the stage. Like if the Hamilton movie was made, there would definitely be changes and the backlash which comes with those changes. 

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

1 hour ago, grim22 said:

Isn't Hamilton not a movie though? It's just filmed performances of the play itself. There's a difference between that and adapting something that is already on the stage. Like if the Hamilton movie was made, there would definitely be changes and the backlash which comes with those changes. 

Right, it's a filmed version of the original cast made widely available to the public and was a huge hit. Its success led to fans of other musicals wanting the same for their favorite shows, and lamenting that earlier iconic Broadway casts didn't get the "Hamiton" treatment in their prime.

 

Remember how many Dear Evan Hansen fans justified the Ben Platt casting in the movie because he originated the role on stage, so he "deserved" to immortalized in the role? And a DEH movie might not have been a big hit regardless, but the broader public never stopped clowning on him as a teen on film. If there'd been a nice filmed version of Platt on stage, fans of the show would have been placated. A movie could have gone with a younger guy and been better for it (ignoring the part where Platt's dad is a big movie producer who can influence casting decisions).

 

I just wonder if we're in a time where the fans of newish musicals will feel extremely ambivalent, at best, about proper movie adaptations. If the hard-core fans could choose between a movie-movie and their show getting a Hamilton sort of release, I think many would prefer the latter. Fans have always been picky and defensive, but social media has taken it to another level, and no movie will ever really be good enough in the eyes of certain purists. They'll probably watch a movie version, but will they truly love it? Especially now that they know a filmed version can be done (I mean, Great Performances has been around for years on PBS, but that's not streaming) with the original cast that they already like. 

Edited October 30, 2021 by BoxOfficeFangrl

[filmlover]

5 hours ago, Spidey Freak said:

Wu's problems with FotB were simmering before CRA came out. She did have another win with Hustlers post-CRA (even if JLo was the main face of the film) so I think she's good. The sequel is supposed to center around Chan's character though. If Eternals underwhelms financially too, I can see them beef up Constance and Awkwafina's parts in the sequel.

Yeah, I don't think Wu's Twitter controversies hurt her much in large part because Hustlers came shortly after it. FWIW I think she had a baby within the past year, which would also explain why she probably isn't actively looking to take on too many gigs these days by choice.

 

2 hours ago, BoxOfficeFangrl said:

Right, it's a filmed version of the original cast made widely available to the public and was a huge hit. Its success led to fans of other musicals wanting the same for their favorite shows, and lamenting that earlier iconic Broadway casts didn't get the "Hamiton" treatment in their prime.

Josh Gad did say in an interview last year that there is a recording of The Book of Mormon from around 2011 out there which would be definitely be a huge deal if it were released since it's another famous musical where a number of people in the original cast (Gad, Andrew Rannells, Brian Tyree Henry) have gone on to enjoy notable filmed-format careers. This reminds me that LMM also said not too long after the release of the Hamilton recording that he was having second thoughts about eventually turning it into a movie. One has to imagine all the failures in the genre recently have only made him feel even stronger about that stance, especially when something like Dear Evan Hansen comes along and ends up souring the play's legacy early on (and perhaps opening up questions as to whether the play was ever actually good to begin with).

Edited October 30, 2021 by filmlover

[dudalb]

On 10/29/2021 at 5:30 PM, grim22 said:

Isn't Hamilton not a movie though? It's just filmed performances of the play itself. There's a difference between that and adapting something that is already on the stage. Like if the Hamilton movie was made, there would definitely be changes and the backlash which comes with those changes. 

Hamilton used pretty much the same format and filming techniques that Fathom productions had been doing for nearly 20 years with it's Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. So it was not like Disney did not know the format could be sucessful. Fathom would not be doing it;s Opera  shows for so long if they were not making a good profit for them.

[SpiderByte]

Taking bets on how many reviewers will stupidly compare this to Frozen

[Eric Duncan]

 

I think we're getting casting announcements soon

[Eric Duncan]

That's Queen Cynthia Erivo for those not interested in clicking Instagram

 

That's Queen Ariana Grande for those not interested in clicking

[Eric Duncan]

 

[CoolioD1]

[Morieris]

I saw that Wicked PBS special...I'm 90% sure Cynthia was in it, and she did a great job.

 

 

I forget Ariana was an "actress" first on Nickelodeon, but I can't say I'm excited to see her here. Assuming it even starts filming.

[Eric Duncan]

They better get Joel Grey back as the Wizard, or else cancel the whole thing

[AJG]

I pray someone teaches Ariana how to enunciate. I don’t like watching musicals with subtitles.

 

 

 

 

[Eric Duncan]

3 minutes ago, Morieris said:

I forget Ariana was an "actress" first on Nickelodeon, but I can't say I'm excited to see her here. Assuming it even starts filming.

Hush your tongue!

 

Ariana and Elizabeth Gillies (who btw deserved an amazing career and I will never forgive Hollywood for subjecting her to CW trash for the rest of her life) carried the whole entire channel.

 

 

The reunion they did for one night is still an absolute dream.

 

 

[Eric Duncan]

 

[filmlover]

This is the perfect kind of acting vehicle for Grande tbh. Hopefully it doesn't end up like the musical disasters of recent years.

[Cap]

 

 

 

BONUS:

 

 

 

[filmlover]

@Cap another:

 

 

Lea Michele looking at Ariana Grande and Beanie Feldstein. pic.twitter.com/hrmL0RFgAU

— sam greisman (@SAMGREIS) November 5, 2021

[Maggie]

I have not seen her start to finish in anything, just bits and pieces, but she seems very talented. I don't understand this vitriol against Lea

[Cap]

1 hour ago, Maggie said:

I have not seen her start to finish in anything, just bits and pieces, but she seems very talented. I don't understand this vitriol against Lea

 

 

Her toxic behavior on sets is legendary.