The long-gestating film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical "Wicked" has been slated for a release on Dec. 20, 2019, Universal Pictures announced Thursday.
No cast has been set yet, but composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz will be working adaptation with writer Winnie Holzman. Both collaborated on the stage musical, which is based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West."
The story imagines the world of "The Wizard of Oz" before Dorothy's arrival, focusing in on the tale of two witches, Glinda and Elphaba, who will grow up to become the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West.
The musical opened in 2003 and is said to have been seen by some 50 million people. The hugely popular show effectively introduced the broader public to stars Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel.
Stephen Daldry, best known for "Billy Elliott," is set to direct, and "Into the Woods'" Marc Platt will produce.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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