Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo Wow CinemaCon Crowds With First Look at ‘Wicked: For Good’

It will be nearly nine months before fans can hold space on their calendars to see the anticipated Wicked sequel, Wicked: For Good. But in Las Vegas this week, director Jon M. Chu wowed the crowds of movie exhibitors in town for the annual CinemaCon convention when he gave them a sneak peek at the second part of the big screen adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical.

Stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were, of course, on hand to help out, taking the stage alongside Chu and movie producer Marc Platt at the Colosseum Theater at Caesars Palace on Wednesday (April 2), according to The Hollywood Reporter. “We took a shot, and we divided Wicked into two parts,” Platt told the thousands of theater owners about splitting the film in two, with the second part due in theaters on Nov. 21. “Now we have the privilege of doing it all again with Wicked: For Good in November.”

Platt added that in For Good the stars “go deeper to find more depth and more complexity and more profundity in those characters. What’s in store is going to astonish people.” Director Chu also noted that one of the most anticipated moments in the upcoming sequel will definitely include “where the girl from Kansas drops in.”

THR reported that the first trailer for the follow-up to the nearly $750 million-grossing first part did not disappoint, describing a “rousing response” from the gathered theater bosses to footage including the first look at Dorothy — though her face was not shown — as well as “golden bricks, a wedding and flying monkeys galore.”

“This is between the Wizard and I,” Erivo’s green witch says in the trailer in a nod to the abiding friendship between Grande’s pink witch Glinda and Erivo’s green-skinned Elphaba, with Grande’s Glinda later warning, “Elphaba, they’re coming for you.” The trailer also features Glinda stepping out from her emerald castle and putting on her oversized tiara, a well as Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) racing through the forest with his men on the hunt for Elphaba, as well as a shot of the latter writing “OUR WIZARD LIES” in the sky.

According to Deadline, exhibitors also saw Glinda walking down a wedding aisle toward the Prince and Jeff Goldblum’s wizard at the control boards, ordering Dorothy, the Lion, Tin Man and Scarecrow to “bring me the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West!” The final image reportedly featured Elphaba reaching out for her hat as it flies into her hand, with her broom in the other as she exclaims, “I’m off to see the wizard!”

In a nod to the pair’s endless, tear-streaked, hand (and space) holding press tour for the first film, the Associated Press reported that Oscar nominee Grande told the crowd, “we already have our tissues packed,” with Erivo promising “less waterworks this time.”