WICKED Looks Like It Would Be A Very Green Movie...

Merrick here...
This slipped through the cracks over the weekend but was still worthy of mention... In the slipstream of ALICE IN WONDERLAND's inxplicable mega-success, studios are gunning for more projects of the same ilk. Seems WICKED, which started life as THIS BOOK before becoming a stage show, may be once again careening toward the big screen. And The Powers That Be have been talking to some interesting directors...

Insiders confirm that JJ Abrams, James Mangold, Ryan Murphy, and Rob Marshall are among the directors who've met or otherwise thrown their hat in the ring. [EDIT] Wicked began as a movie development project with Platt and Universal, before they changed course and took it to the stage first. It was an immediate sensation, quickly recouping its $14 million capitalization in 2004 and becoming one of the biggest grossing tuners of all time, with the Broadway show and eight touring companies. The Broadway musical routinely tops the weekly gross charts--$1.4 million per week is average, but the musical has broken the $2 million mark more than once.

...says Deadline HERE. A J.J. Abrams musical? I can see that being either complete genius or complete insanity. Either way, it would be something to see... WICKED author Gregory Maguire expanded upon his revisionst Oz with SON OF A WITCH and A LION AMONG MEN, although neither seems to have equalled the splash made by their progenitor.
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