Video: Jon M. Chu Looks Back at WICKED Journey in New Featurette

In a new featurette for Wicked: For Good, director Jon M. Chu takes center stage, shining a spotlight on the weight and epic nature of the massive two-part film adaptation. "Every day you're solving 80 emotional puzzles; what the story needs, where you're getting intimate with the material, and where you're blowing it up," he explains.

Chu looks back at some of his favorite films as a kid, specifically naming films like E.T. and 2001: A Space Odyssey that offered him a look at another world. "[Those movies offered] the sort of mix of joy and terror and spectacle that exposed life to me."

"He does such a beautiful job of showcasing the humanness in each of these characters. His heart is woven throughout every single stitch of this movie," Ariana Grande says of Chu in the video. Check it out now.

The second half of the Wicked adaptation, Wicked: For Good, is now in theaters. Opening on November 21, the movie brought in $150 million in North America during its opening weekend, plus $76 million internationally, bringing its global total to $226 million. Wicked: For Good marks the biggest opening weekend for a film based on a Broadway musical, beating a record set by the first film last year.

Wicked: Part One film grossed $112.5 million during its opening weekend in 2024. By the end of its theatrical run, it grossed over $756 million worldwide. Domestically, it became one of the top 50 highest-grossing movies in the United States of all time, and was also the highest-grossing movie based on a Broadway musical in the U.S. upon its release.

Get tickets to see Wicked: For Good in theaters and check out critics' reviews here. Listen to the soundtrack here.

Wicked: For Good picks up after the 2024 blockbuster. Elphaba, now demonized as The Wicked Witch of the West, lives in exile, hidden within the Ozian forest while continuing her fight for the freedom of Oz’s silenced Animals and desperately trying to expose the truth she knows about The Wizard. 

Wicked: For Good is directed by Jon M. Chu and stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, Ariana Grande as Glinda, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Jeff Goldblum as The Wizard, Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Ethan Slater as Boq, and Marissa Bode as Nessarose. Other cast members include Tony-nominee Colman Domingo as the voice of the Cowardly Lion and Sharon D. Clarke (Caroline, or Change) as the voice of Elphaba’s childhood nanny, Dulcibear.