A "Wicked" movie, based on the book and play?

Question

I was watching a video on the official "Wicked" site,

and the producer of the play named Marc E. Platt mentioned something about a movie he was making/made that was based on wicked.

I'd love to see this but I can't find any mention or evidence that it even exists anywhere.

help?

-Camm

Answer 1

Marc Platt *was* working on a movie, but decided to do the musical instead.

From Wicked: The Grimmerie: a behind-the-scenes look at the hit Broadway musical pg 21

Marc Platt- Stephen [Schwartz] asked, "Have you ever thought about turning this into a musical?" And a light bulb went on, and I thought, "This is exactly what is missing from the screenplay." First, we all think of Oz as a musical world: For many of us, the main reference point is the 1939 film. Second, music lends itself to the heightened nature of a fantasy world. Third, in a musical, a character can literally turn to the audience and sing about what he or she is feeling.

Stephen Schwartz- There was a period of time when Marc was developing Wicked on two tracks: as a nonmusical film and as a stage musical. Eventually, the stage musical took over. But it took about a year for the decision to be made: Yes, we're going to go ahead and do this.

There are plans for a Wicked movie still. By 2014. From interviews with Gregory Maguire.

Interview#1 9 March 2008

According to Maguire, there are plans to bring out a film version of “Wicked” in the year 2014. “That’s the 10-year anniversary of its Broadway debut,” he said, “which is exactly what happened when the play ‘Chicago’ came out as a film a few years ago. Since ‘Wicked’ is breaking attendance records all over the world, there’s no need to rush a film out now.”

Interview#2 March 2008 (sometime before the first)

Q: What was your reaction when they first talked to you about your novel Wicked being made into a musical? Has anyone ever asked you about it being made into a film?

GM: Within 10 days of the book's publication in the US, I started to get film offers. I had three and a half years' worth of film scripts, each one of which was worse than the one before!

When that interest began to erode (Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings hadn't come out yet) and the notion of a Broadway play came up instead, really in my heart of hearts I just thought [*singing and leaping from his chair*] 'Broadway!'. What was not to love about it?

There will eventually be a film of Wicked the musical but probably not for four or five years.