In this March 8, 2015, file photo, director Stephen Daldry attends the Broadway opening night of "The Audience" at The Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York. Universal Pictures said Friday, Feb. 8, 2019, that the long-awaited movie version of the hit musical “Wicked" will land in theaters on Dec. 22, 2021. It had originally been on the schedule for this December.(Photo by Greg Allen/Invision/AP, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) --
The winds have changed again for the long-awaited movie version of the hit musical "Wicked."
Universal Pictures says Friday that the film will land in theaters on Dec. 22, 2021. It had originally been on the schedule for this December.
Stephen Daldry is still set to direct the film, with Marc Platt producing.
Based on a 1995 book by Gregory Maguire, "Wicked" is a reimagining of "The Wizard of Oz" told from the perspective of the witches.
Winnie Holzman and Oscar-winning composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz are reteaming for the screenplay adaption. Platt, Holzman and Schwartz all worked on the Broadway show which debuted in 2003. The original Broadway production went on to win three Tony Awards.
Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)
Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.
Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.
"We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.
Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.
His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.
Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.
"Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More
