The Wicked Trailer Finally Dropped At The Super Bowl & Fans Are Not Holding Back

The first "Wicked" teaser trailer is finally here, and fans have some notes.

The adaptation of the beloved stage musical created by Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz —  based on a novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire, which is a dark take on L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of Oz" — is helmed by Jon M. Chu ("In the Heights," "Crazy Rich Asians") and led by Cynthia Erivo as the green witch Elphaba and Ariana Grande as her cheerful pink counterpart Glinda. So why are musical theater fans in a tizzy over the trailer? Well, while some are thrilled at the first glimpse of this long-awaited, two-part film, others already have critiques.

Some users on X (formerly known as Twitter) were going absolutely wild over the teaser, like @grandebina, who declared "Wicked" to be "MOVIE OF THE CENTURY ALREADY. Others, like @suregame2010, were a little more measured but still cautiously optimistic, referencing one of the most disastrous movie musical adaptations in recent memory: "this might be actually good especially visually holy crap. just hope it doesn't pull a 'Cats'."

"Wicked" fans know that the musical contains some of the most challenging musical theater numbers in the medium — especially the high-octane number "Defying Gravity" — and snippets of Erivo's vocal performance are also the subject of heated discussion. Some fans, like @Jairhilburn, loved it: "Cynthia's Defying Gravity climax had me shouting in this apartment (sorry to the downstairs neighbors)." @ronanm27, though, disagrees slightly, writing, "This looks incredible, although I'm not sure how I feel about Cynthia's run at the end of 'Defying Gravity.'"

There are also plenty of — mostly good-natured — jabs and jokes about the "Wicked" trailer, which aired while the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers faced off during Super Bowl LVIII.

Comedian @MattBellassai pointed out that the trailer was meant for a super-specific audience, writing, "they aired the 'Wicked' trailer at the beginning of the super bowl to keep gay people busy for the rest of the night. like dangling musical theater keys." @tveitidk posted a photo of Jason Kelce, rapper Ice Spice, and pop superstar Taylor Swift in a VIP box mid-discussion, adding a quippy caption: "this is what theatre kids looked like discussing the 'Wicked' trailer after it dropped." @katereinking took the "theatre kid" throughline and ran with it, saying, "The 'Wicked' trailer dropping before the 7pm curtains is the most theatre kid thing THANK YOU @wickedmovie."

Others, like film critic Guy Lodge, question whether the movie will be as big as everyone expects, citing one of Jon M. Chu's previous films. "Wicked' trailer is reminding me of when so many of you tried to claim that 'In the Heights,' a film that absolutely does not exist, would be some kind of seismic cultural event." Then, some fans came after the way the film is marketed — from the way it looks, to the fact that it's story will be spread across two feature-length films.

Across social media, audiences had some valid concerns about the movie, focusing on its CGI, the decision to split up the narrative, and the fact that it's been delayed repeatedly. Actor David Krumholtz — who recently appeared in "Oppenheimer" — went after the trailer's overall look, writing, "The 'Wicked' trailer looks like an early aughts era Skittles commercial." On a thread that begins with a GIF of Homer Simpson yanking his collar, @JesseDMcAnally wrote, "It's a CG nightmare that undersells the beautiful sets. A lot of what they're marketing here probably won't even appear in the first film ... If this were the trailer for a complete 'Wicked' movie I'd be more hyped. But it ain't it's a trailer for half a movie. Tell me, outside of a few bangers what PLOT WISE happens in act 2 of Wicked? We meander to set up the wizard of Oz and don't do much else!"

Recently, there's been a disturbing trend of movie musicals trying to hide the fact that they're musicals in the first place. The "Wicked" trailer definitely suffers from this, at least a little bit, and users like @Schaffrillas noticed, saying, "If your trailer is trying to hide the fact that the film version of one of the most popular musicals ever is, in fact, a musical, I think you may have lost the plot a bit." Then there were the naysayers who think that after all the fuss and delays related to COVID and strikes, the movie might just never release at all, like @Kayla_Says_YT. "Yes I saw the 'Wicked' trailer no I don't think the movie is actually ever coming out," they quipped.

Let's back up for just a moment and pin down what's behind some of these critiques and freakouts over the first major "Wicked" trailer. As previously mentioned, the musical will be split into two movies, presumably attempting to mimic the Broadway show's intermission — which happens after Elphaba belts "Defying Gravity," becomes the powerful witch she truly is, and "flies" over the in-house audience on her broomstick.

While this is an interesting approach from Jon M. Chu, the two halves of the film are set to be released a full year apart, with the first arriving this Thanksgiving. Splitting huge blockbusters into two parts to sell double the tickets has been en vogue since the final "Harry Potter" film did it in 2010 and 2011, but the tactic has offered diminishing returns ever since and largely serves to frustrate moviegoers.

Beyond that, movie musicals haven't been thriving critically or commercially as of late. The "Mean Girls" movie musical — which also made the interesting choice to hide most of its musical numbers in the trailer — performed better than many of its predecessors, but the X user who invoked Tom Hooper's absolutely disastrous 2019 adaptation of "Cats" was right to point out that big Broadway shows don't always translate to the big screen. From potential CGI missteps to the two-part release schedule to Cynthia Erivo's vocal performance, fans of "Wicked" have certainly honed in on the possible mistakes they've spotted in this brief trailer. They'll have to make a final judgment when the movie finally releases on November 27, 2024.