Both 2024’s box office and pop culture at large have been dominated by Wicked-mania, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Not only can you now purchase or rent Wicked at home, but the follow-up, Wicked: For Good, is coming our way at the tail end of the 2025 movie release schedule. The film adaptation is so popular that many fans of the original musical even prefer certain elements of the film to the stage production. This includes the way that Wicked's atmospheric sounds and effects are incorporated into the songs, and when said sounds didn’t make it to the final soundtrack, there was a little bit of fan backlash. But don’t blame director Jon M. Chu, because he seems to agree with them.
I caught up with Jon M. Chu to celebrate the home video release of Wicked, and when I brought up these particular fan complaints, he quickly absolved himself of all the blame. As it turns out, he didn’t have a huge hand in the mixing of the soundtrack, even though he was heavily involved in the mixing of the film itself:
Oh, I don't disagree with that. But I did promise Stephen Schwartz that I would let him do the album and I would stay out of telling him how to do that, and he would stay out of the movie, and he left me to do things. So we have our respective areas of interpretation.
Jon M. Chu
Surely this isn’t meant to bash accomplished composer Stephen Schwartz. As somebody that is very close to the music through the film itself, Jon M. Chu would probably have a hard time approaching the soundtrack from an unbiased perspective. The man is a multi-hyphenate: filmmaker, dancer and choreographer, but one thing he’s not is a composer. Chu is very passionate about Wicked, and for all we know, his version of the soundtrack would just be a rip of the film’s audio, dialogue and all!
But that’s not just my assumption. Jon M. Chu said this about why he wants this type of soundtrack to be so much more than a collection of songs:
Listen, to me, musicals need to feel alive and they need to feel present. And I love the rhythmic nature of the choreography. I think it’s really fun that movement is a part of the music itself… Some music writers like to keep it very clean and sound like an album, and while I respect that, for me personally, I like it when it feels like it's in the room.
Jon M. Chu
While the film may not be as jam-packed with atmospheric sounds as Jon M. Chu would have liked, there are plenty of fan-favorite moments that made the cut! I was on a bus full of Wicked geeks who belted along when Ariana Grande’s now-infamous “Right!” played during the soundtrack version of “Popular.” Notably, along with Ariana Grande’s deviation from the original musical, you can hear the slamming of a book, which really adds to the moment. Chu and I spoke of this moment specifically, and the glee that came across his face when he realized that his work had an effect on the overall Wicked legacy was precious. You can see the interview clip at the top of this article.
What else can I say about this movie? Our official Wicked review gave the film a perfect 5/5 stars, critics still won’t stop gushing about it, and given how much Jon M. Chu is teasing the sequel, it seems the hype isn’t dying down anytime soon. Next is the Oscars, then the release of Wicked: For Good, and then we repeat. You can rent or purchase Wicked at home right now!
