2024 was a rough year for movie musicals. Promotion for films like last year’s Wonka and this year’s Mean Girls have revealed a new trend of cinematic “musicalfishing”, where studios seem to intentionally hide the fact that these films are musicals. These movies’ trailers feature blink-and-you’ll-miss-it clips of choreography and singing, in hopes that audiences won’t know what they’re getting into. The Hollywood Reporter quoted an anonymous studio executive as saying, “If you spell out the word musical, people have pre-formed opinions…and audiences can be turned off.” Perhaps because of this fact, there are less movie musicals being greenlit nowadays, and the ones that are hope to reinvigorate a genre that was once the highest-grossing in Hollywood. That could certainly be happening this Thanksgiving with the arrival of a certain green witch…
2024
Wicked (Part One) – November 22nd
One of the most anticipated Broadway adaptations ever, Wicked is finally hitting the big screen with not one, but two films (said to correspond with the show’s two acts). The beloved show, based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, reimagines The Wizard of Oz’s “Wicked Witch of the West” as a tragic heroine, and examines her complicated friendship with Glinda, “the Good Witch”. Since opening on Broadway in 2003, Wicked has become the second highest-grossing musical in Broadway history (behind Disney’s The Lion King), spawned productions in various languages all over the world, and become a cultural staple – arguably paving the way for more “she wasn’t a villain after all” stories like 2014’s Maleficent and 2021’s Cruella films.
This Universal Pictures adaptation will be helmed by Jon M. Chu, director of 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians and – more relevantly – the 2021 In the Heights adaptation. The musical’s writer Winnie Holzman is returning to write the screenplay while the musical’s composer Stephen Schwartz is involved and said to be writing new songs for the film. Taking on the iconic lead roles of Elphaba and Glinda are Tony-winner Cynthia Erivo and Grammy-winner Ariana Grande respectively. The rest of the all-star cast includes Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, and Ethan Slater. Perhaps to counter Hollywood’s aforementioned “musical fatigue”, the Wicked promotional campaign is already in full-force, with consistent trailers and its two leads front and center during the 2024 Paris Olympics. We’ll see if the long-awaited adaptation defies gravity or falls straight out of the sky. Either way, its sequel Wicked (Part Two) is scheduled to hit theaters November 26th, 2025.
Others
Non-Broadway inspired musical films yet to come in 2024 include the Joaquin Phoenix/Lady Gaga-starring Joker: Folie à Deux (Oct 4), the Disney sequel Moana 2 (Nov 27), and the Disney prequel Mufasa: The Lion King (Dec 20). Netflix will release Oscar hopeful Emilia Perez, starring Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldana in November, and Girl from the North Country-inspiration Bob Dylan gets a biopic this December called A Complete Unknown, starring Wonka’s Timotheé Chalamet.
2025 and Beyond
Kiss of the Spider Woman – TBA
This adaptation, directed by Bill Condon (of musical films like 2006’s Dreamgirls and 2017’s Beauty and the Beast remake), has wrapped filming and thus, is a pretty sure bet for 2025. The source material – about an imprisoned trans woman (or gay man, depending on the adaptation), her political revolutionary roommate, and the film star she’s obsessed with – has had an incredible life, starting off as a 1976 Argentine novel by Manuel Puig, then an Oscar-winning film in 1985, and then a Tony-winning musical in 1992. This film’s cast includes Andor’s Diego Luna and Promised Land’s Tonatiuh, though the film’s biggest draw is undoubtedly Jennifer Lopez, who will take on the award-winning role of Aurora. Lopez has had a particularly difficult year as far as public image is concerned, and a prestige role like this could help rehabilitate her artistic reputation. The film has no current release date.
Frozen: Live on Stage – TBA
Among Disney’s many announcements at their annual D23 convention this month (including a stage adaptation of the P.T. Barnum musical The Greatest Showman!), was the revelation that the West End production of Frozen was secretly filmed earlier this year and will join Newsies and Hamilton as pro-shots that will land on Disney+. The original 2013 animated film is of course one of Disney’s biggest successes in the 21st century, becoming one of the highest-grossing animated films of all time and launching a franchise that includes spin-offs, a direct sequel in 2019, and a recently announced third film coming in 2027. Disney quickly capitalized on Frozen’s theatrical potential, opening its stage adaptation on Broadway in 2018 and its West End adaptation in 2021. Most notably, this Disney+ recording will feature Samantha Barks as Elsa, known for her standout turn as Éponine in 2012’s Lés Miserables film and her lead role in Broadway’s Pretty Woman: The Musical, back in 2018.
Shucked – TBA
The most recent show on the list, Shucked had an incredible run on Broadway from September 2023 to January 2024 and its producer Mike Bosner used the closing show to announce that a film adaptation was in the works. “We’re all a little sad to say goodbye to this,” Bosner announced to the audience, “But there’s some good news. We don’t have to say goodbye just yet. Because I’m happy to announce that we will be making a feature film of Shucked.” The show’s book writer Robert Horn will return to write the screenplay, and the creative team are all attached as producers, promising a faithful adaptation of the beloved musical comedy about a corn-obsessed town. No casting has been announced yet, but odds are that Alex Newell will reprise their role as Lulu, after becoming the first non-binary actor to win the Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 2023.
Big River – TBA
Earlier this year it was announced that the 1985 Tony-winning musical, based on Mark Twain’s classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, will be turned into a film. While the original show’s producers are onboard, the most interesting hire is screenwriter Douglas Lyons. Lyons was the writer of Chicken & Biscuits, a Broadway comedy that was highly acclaimed but had a short run due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An acclaimed black playwright suggests an interesting take on the racially sensitive source material.
On Your Feet! – TBA
The high-energy Broadway musical based on the lives of Gloria and Emilio Estefan will be adapted into a film for Sony Pictures. Not much is currently known about the adaptation, but it is set be written and directed by indie filmmaker Lissette Feliciano and produced by the Estefans themselves.
Merrily We Roll Along – 2039 or Beyond (For Real)
As we reported before – and will, I suppose, continue to report for a while – director Richard Linklater is taking his Boyhood approach to Stephen Sondheim’s classic musical by filming the play’s 20-year story over 20 years. An incredibly ambitious take that is sure to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, Linklater’s film stars Ben Platt, Beanie Feldstein, and Hollywood’s current it-boy Paul Mescal as the trio of artist friends at the center of the non-linear narrative. The movie has already begun filming, only 15 or so more years to go. Merrily is having quite a moment this year. After its initial Broadway run infamously flopped in 1981, it has since gone on to be regarded as an underrated gem, which culminated in its 2023 revival winning multiple Tony awards, including Best Revival of a Musical.
Others
Many musical adaptations have been announced over the years but since stalled in updates, including film versions of Girl from the North Country, Once on this Island, Follies and Sunset Boulevard. As Hollywood is an industry of trends, the success of films like Wicked could get these adaptations back on track.
Of course, we’ll keep you updated on anything particularly exciting that pops up, but for now we look forward to supporting these popular shows on the big screen!
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