The movie adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked will be split into two parts, Universal has announced.
The studio will release part one on December 25, 2024, and the second chapter will hit cinemas a year later on December 25, 2025.
Directed by Jon M Chu, the two-part movie adaptation stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo as Glinda and Elphaba, Witches of Oz.
On Twitter, Chu revealed that after much deliberation, the studio had decided to split the film up in order to allow for the best version of the story to be told.
"As we prepared the production over the last year, it became increasingly clear that it would be impossible to wrestle the story of Wicked into a single film without doing some real damage to it," he said.
"As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all for so many years. So we decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one Wicked movie but two!"
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He added: "With more space, we can tell the story of Wicked as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys of these beloved characters.
"Cynthia, Ariana, and I – and all of the cast and crew – pledge to create nothing less than an experience that honors its foundation for all the fans who've waited for this movie, and to offer a thrilling, fantastical world full of dynamic characters that invites in those who are unfamiliar."
The beloved stage show tells the story of the events leading up to Dorothy's arrival in Oz.
The film adaptation is based on the bestselling novel by Gregory Maguire and adapted for the screen by the stage production's book writer Winnie Holzman and Oscar-winning composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz.
Wicked will hit theatres around the world on December 25, 2024 and December 25, 2025.
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