Ariana, Cynthia and flying monkeys, oh my: Universal Pictures conjures up eye-popping trailer to ‘Wicked’
Universal Pictures
Universal has dropped the most detailed look yet at its star-studded movie adaptation of the smash musical Wicked.
The movie from director Jon M. Chu stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo as, respectively, Glinda and Elphaba aka the Good and Wicked witches of Oz.
The trailer shows the pair meeting and green-skinned Elphaba’s struggle to fit in — even as her “extraordinary” powers are cultivated by Michelle Yeoh‘s Madam Morrible.
In the coming attraction, both young witches go off to see the Wizard — that is, Jeff Goldblum as the avatar behind a fearsome mechanical face — and yes, they follow the Yellow Brick Road to get there at his direction.
However, he’s scheming an opportunity in splitting the pair apart. “The best way to bring folks together is to give ’em a real good enemy,” he purrs.
At this, Erivo is seen donning a pointy black hat and apparently breaking bad, flying through the window on a broom.
“It’s the wizard who should be afraid of me!” she later says defiantly.
And while the show’s celebrated music is heard throughout, both Erivo and Grande are heard — but not seen — at the close, blowing the doors off the climax of the production’s showstopper “Defying Gravity.”
The first part of the two-part epic opens in theaters Nov. 22; part two is slated for a Nov. 26, 2025, release.
On Monday, Marvel Studios dropped an action-packed teaser to its May 2025 team-up Thunderbolts*.
As reported, the movie is an unlikely collab of former Marvel Cinematic Universe bad guys: Florence Pugh‘s Yelena and her adopted dad, Alexei aka Red Guardian (David Harbour); Sebastian Stan‘s Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier; Hannah John-Kamen‘s Ava Starr/Ghost from Ant-Man and the Wasp;Olga Kurylenko‘sAntonia Dreykov/Taskmaster from Black Widow; and Wyatt Russell‘s John Walker/U.S. Agent from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
The trailer begins with Yelena knocking on Alexei’s door; she says she’s been looking for purpose, and “throwing herself into work” — in her case, being a master assassin — wasn’t cutting it.
It’s a malaise apparently felt by Bucky, who seems to be working as a security minder in Washington, D.C., as well as Walker, who is shown ignoring a baby in a crib and instead reading an article about his fall from grace as the one-time replacement to Steve Rogers’ Cap.
Yelena is then seen fighting her way into a facility and finds that each of the characters were led there, as well — the gang fights each other, until a guy in a pair of medical scrubs tumbles out of a crate. With every weapon trained on him, the guy identifies himself as “Bob.”
And then the windows of the room slam shut, and they’re trapped.
“Someone wants us gone,” Yelena says.
Returning Marvel player Julia Louis-Dreyfus reappearsas theshadowy Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who seemingly brought the “adorable” gang together.
“We’re brought up to believe there are good guys and there are bad guys,” she says in voice-over. “But eventually you come to realize there are bad guys, and there are worse guys — and nothing else.”
Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
If Ariana Grande ever decides to give up singing and acting, she could always play Vegas as an impressionist. She showed off her incredible gift for mimicry on the Oct. 12 edition of Saturday Night Live, which she was hosting for the first time since 2016.
Ari kicked off the show with a monologue in which she swore to keep it “low-key,” and then busted out a song that was all about how she wasn’t going to do any number of things, which she, of course, did. One of them was doing vocal impressions, followed by her impersonating Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus and Gwen Stefani in rapid succession. “Either way, this much is clear/ If you’re looking for a diva, don’t look over here,” she sang, while striking a diva pose.
She then went on to appear in nearly every sketch. Some highlights:
Ari hilariously impersonates Céline Dion’s recent promo for Sunday Night Football, except this time, she’s singing about how great (and violent) the UFC is: “It’s all coming back to me, but maybe not to them, because of the concussions, no?”
She and Chloe Finemando dueling, spot-on Jennifer Coolidge impressions in a fake commercial for Maybelline — which causes Ari to briefly break and start laughing.
Ari plays a highly competitive mom who verbally abuses her son’s boyfriend, played by Bowen Yang, as a way of testing whether or not he’s “strong” enough to be with her “weak” son. She and Yang, her Wicked co-star, share a kiss at the end.
In a short called My Best Friend’s House, Ari plays a young girl who sings about how she loves how her bestie’s house smells — only to learn that her best friend’s dad is a serial killer.
In Renaissance Italy, Ariana plays a young boy whose parents castrated him to preserve his super-high singing voice — a real thing that was done back then. This gives Ari the chance to sing “Twist and Shout” at the very top end of her register.
Ari and the female SNL castmembers sing an “Espresso” parody as bridesmaids detailing what they got up to at the bride’s bachelorette weekend. Spoiler alert: The marriage is over.
Quincy Jones, a longtime music industry powerhouse and hitmaking producer of multi-platinum albums, including Michael Jackson‘s Thriller, the best-selling album of all time, died on Sunday. He was 91.
His death was announced by his publicist, Arnold Robinson, who said Jones died at his home in Bel Air, California. Jones was surrounded by his family, including his children and siblings, at the time of his death, the announcement said.
“And although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him,” the family said in a statement.
During his decades-long career, Jones was nominated for 80 Grammy Awards, of which he won 28. He was the all-time most-nominated composer and producer, his publicist said on Monday.
His was a career punctuated often by chart-topping hits, many of which were also critical successes. He produced albums for Michael Jackson, including Off the Wall, Bad and Thriller, which ranks as the best-selling album of all time.
Quincy was a seasoned producer by the time Thriller came out in 1982. He had won his first Grammy in 1963 for an arrangement of “I Can’t Stop Loving You” by Count Basie.
He then partnered with Frank Sinatra for Sinatra at the Sands, an album that included “Fly Me to the Moon.” Jones’ publicist noted on Monday that that version of the song was the “the first recording played by astronaut Buzz Aldrin when he landed upon the moon’s surface in 1969.”
He also produced and conducted “We Are the World,” which brought together pop luminaries of all ages and became the best-selling single of all time.
Jones was often referred to as entertainment royalty — and it would be difficult to overstate the breadth of his career or the depth of his influence on popular culture. He had begun his career as a composer and become a music producer. And he would eventually also make his mark on Hollywood.
He was a co-producer with Steven Spielberg on The Color Purple, a 1985 film staring Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover and Whoopi Goldberg. That film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including two nominations for Jones’ original song and score.
He also served as executive producer on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, the TV series staring Will Smith that premiered in 1990. Jones also founded VIBE Magazine in 1991.
Jones’ family said on Monday that Jones was “truly one of a kind,” adding that “we take comfort and immense pride in knowing that the love and joy, that were the essence of his being, was shared with the world through all that he created.”
They added, “Through his music and his boundless love, Quincy Jones’ heart will beat for eternity.”
