re: Wicked - Official Trailer

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I understand their will be two movies. I just don't think that is a good idea. I will take someone's word for the fact that the play is very different from the book; that means it could succeed but not if you stretch the material and make people devout their time and money x2. Just make it one movie that is very close to the play. People seemed to have liked it.

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Well, 2 and a half hours on stage and 2 and a half hours on film are two very very different things unless you are literally just filming the stage version.
Making a movie version that runs at the same pace, note for note, line for line, Would be awful to watch. It would feel rushed, lacking any and all cinematography/exposition/transitions you expect in a film.

And with Wicked in particular, that has so much going on in the musical (and so much happening that is referenced, implied or they need you to assume... that would be impossible to show on stage), there's a lot they can do to utilize every bit of those two parts without it feeling stretched out.

Also, while still one of Broadway's and Touring top draws 21 years later, far more people will see the film than have seen it on stage and will have no idea what moments in the movie are not on stage.