Award Season Campaigning The Nominees Dinner The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – aka the Oscar Academy – typically hosts an Oscar Nominees Luncheon every year to celebrate everyone a few weeks before the big night. This is where they also remind potential winners about keeping their speeches tight and right and gently ask them not By Lainey • Feb 26, 2025 12:30 pm
Style Wicked in Japan Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, and Jon M Chu were in Japan yesterday to promote Wicked. The movie opens there on March 7 and this was the last possible week that they could have travelled there because of course it’s been non-stop and now they pretty much have to stay By Lainey • Feb 21, 2025 10:53 am
Award Season Campaigning Last night at AFI Last night, the American Film Institute honored their top ten films and TV series for 2024. You can see the full list of honorees here, but it’s pretty much an Oscar/Emmy hit list, with such titles as Anora, The Brutalist, Conclave, Emilia Pérez, and Wicked in the mix By Sarah • Feb 07, 2025 09:36 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Team Wicked is having all the fun I’m being petty here and I’m not sorry. Because remember when some of you were sick of the Wicked press tour and Wicked in general? Well. With all the chaos and the ugliness of this Oscar race, aren’t you f-cking glad we have Wicked now?!? Today is By Lainey • Feb 06, 2025 12:55 pm
Music Cynthia and Janelle: Quincy Jones and Grammys for Oscars Cynthia Erivo and Janelle Monae were two of the artists who performed at the Grammys last night as part of the Quincy Jones tribute. We’ll begin at the end, as it was Janelle who shut it all down with a performance of “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” By Lainey • Feb 03, 2025 02:17 pm
Michelle Yeoh No One Mourns Wicked At the Golden Globes There’s no sense hiding it, the truth is right there. Like many other writers today, I went ahead and chose an article title that’s a Wicked pun. But I’m not sorry, for two reasons: One, it’s a MUSICAL based on a century-old campy story. There’s By Duana • Jan 06, 2025 08:42 am
Style Aunjanue goes full Elphaba Last night was the Critics Choice Association’s 7th Annual Celebration of Black Cinema and Television, which brought out a cavalcade of stars, including honorees Regina King, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, John David Washington, Natasha Rothwell, Jharrel Jerome, Ryan Destiny, and Cynthia Erivo. You can see the full list of honorees here. By Sarah • Dec 10, 2024 12:24 pm
BFFs Cynthia, Ari, and Drew I will never not love the way the Wicked press tour took a life of its own. This, by the way, is what movie studio marketing departments want to happen, and some are more successful than others. The Barbie press tour, for example, was widely praised for its, well, Barbie-ness. By Lainey • Dec 04, 2024 01:24 pm
Award Season Campaigning Cynthia Erivo: Elphaba’s Victory Lap Sarah posted earlier about the American Thanksgiving weekend box office – between Moana 2 and Wicked, it was a record-breaker. And here’s Cynthia Erivo this morning in New York for an appearance on the CBS Morning Show, a little victory lap and more work! Because even though the press tour By Lainey • Dec 02, 2024 11:23 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Intro for November 25, 2024 Dear Gossips, The most extra press tour, a press tour for and by theatre kids, has resulted in a major box office win. Wicked opened in North America with $114 million at the box office (to Gladiator II’s $55.5 million) and now holds the record for the biggest By Lainey • Nov 25, 2024 09:20 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in Wicked Well, here we are. Once again, I have been subjected to a movie musical, a thing I almost never enjoy. And guess what? I didn’t enjoy it! Again! Although, on the scale of “Cats to Not Cats”, the cinematic adaptation of perennially popular stage musical Wicked is “Not Cats” By Sarah • Nov 22, 2024 01:38 pm
Style WICKET Last night site manager Emily emailed me a photo list and she called Wicked “Wicket” and that is all I am thinking about. WICKET. I am seeing WICKET on Sunday, an unusual day for a press screening, but there are so many screenings right now as critics groups get ready By Sarah • Nov 15, 2024 10:24 am
Style Intro for November 13, 2024 Dear Gossips, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were in New York City last night continuing to promote Wicked. The day before, Monday, it was Mexico City, with both wearing their best red carpet outfits so far (in my opinion) on the press tour. Cynthia was in Thom Browne, the detailing By Lainey • Nov 13, 2024 10:07 am
Ariana Grande Intro for November 5, 2024 Dear Gossips, It’s the day. Everything is fine. I am the dog drinking coffee amidst the five-alarm fire. Everything is fine. Anyway! Yesterday, I mentionedWicked and Gladiator II are on their respective press tours, ahead of their shared November 22 release date. While the studio machine tried to make By Sarah • Nov 05, 2024 09:06 am
Style Wickediator kicks off Ever since Paramount and Universal doubled down on releasing Gladiator II and Wicked congruently on November 22, the studios have been trying to make a Barbenheimer-style double bill event happen, but it hasn’t really gained any traction. Partly because you can’t force a Barbenheimer situation, but also because By Sarah • Nov 04, 2024 10:58 am
Amazingness Wicked… Live! There’s a conversation that’s been happening over on our Substack, The Squawk, about the Wicked marketing campaign. Some feel that it’s been too much, especially because they started so early. As I wrote in my weekly mailbag column on Friday, though, these days, and with a movie By Lainey • Oct 28, 2024 03:07 pm
