Good lord, I am so over the Wicked promotion. They shouldn’t have been promoting this mess for a full year. Now that Wicked (PART 1) is coming out in a few weeks, it feels like the actors are limping along because they’ve had to do so much sh-t for it for months already. Anyway, here are photos from the big, garish Los Angeles premiere on Sunday. Wicked actors Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey and Ethan Slater all came out. Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenowith – who originated the Glinda and Elphaba roles on Broadway – also came out to support the film. Guess who else came out? Jennifer Lopez! What is she doing there? Is just a Wicked fan, or was she supporting Ari and Cynthia in particular?
One of the things which has grown very, very tired about the promotion is that Ari and Cynthia have theme-dressed their way through it for months. There’s only so many times I can see that acid green color combined with pale “princess” pink. For the LA premiere, Ariana wore a pink-and-cream gingham Thom Browne ensemble, and Cynthia wore a custom vinyl dress by Louis Vuitton. Cynthia also exclusively wore Roberto Coin jewelry, including “an 18K white gold diamond and emerald collar necklace from the brand’s Haute Couture Collection worth a staggering $750,000.”
Other fashion notes…if you wondered about J.Lo, she wore Zuhair Murad. In her showgirl era. Jonathan Bailey’s ensemble is hilarious to me – he looks like he’s about to head off to a tropical rave, and I f–king love that he was the one who got to wear the ruby-red slippers.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – NOVEMBER 09: Jonathan Bailey arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of Universal Pictures’ ‘Wicked’ held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at The Music Center on November 9, 2024 in Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 932680348, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Jonathan Bailey, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – NOVEMBER 09: Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey and Ariana Grande Butera arrive at the Los Angeles Premiere Of Universal Pictures’ ‘Wicked’ held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at The Music Center on November 9, 2024 in Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 932681891, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Ariana Grande Butera, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – NOVEMBER 09: Cynthia Erivo wearing custom Louis Vuitton and Suzanne Kalan jewelry arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of Universal Pictures’ ‘Wicked’ held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at The Music Center on November 9, 2024 in Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 932682289, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Cynthia Erivo, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 09: (L-R) Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande attend the Los Angeles premiere of Universal Pictures “Wicked” at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on November 09, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.,Image: 932831413, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 09: (L-R) Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey and Ariana Grande attend the Los Angeles premiere of Universal Pictures “Wicked” at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on November 09, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.,Image: 932831482, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Ariana Grande, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 09: Cynthia Erivo attends the Los Angeles premiere of Universal Pictures “Wicked” at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on November 09, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.,Image: 932833146, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Cynthia Erivo, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 09: Ariana Grande attends the Los Angeles premiere of Universal Pictures “Wicked” at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on November 09, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.,Image: 932834948, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Ariana Grande, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 09: (L-R) Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth attend the Los Angeles premiere of Universal Pictures “Wicked” at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on November 09, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.,Image: 932840789, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
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- Celebrities attend the Los Angeles premiere of ‘Wicked’ at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California Featuring: Ethan Slater Where: Los Angeles, California, United States When: 09 Nov 2024 Credit: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images
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- Celebrities attend the Los Angeles premiere of ‘Wicked’ at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California Featuring: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande Where: Los Angeles, California, United States When: 09 Nov 2024 Credit: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images
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- Celebrities attend the Los Angeles premiere of ‘Wicked’ at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California Featuring: Jennifer Lopez Where: Los Angeles, California, United States When: 09 Nov 2024 Credit: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images
The theme dressing is tired. I wonder why the studio decided they needed to promote the film for almost a year and this is only part one. They must have spent so much money doing all this promo.
And I’m more turned off by it as it’s chugging on.
True. At least Jonny Bailey seems to have some sense of humor about it.
Jonathan Bailey is Robin Williams in The Birdcage
In the book the ruby slippers are silver, I like Ariana’s call back to the original text.
My issue here is how lazy it is. The Barbie looks, Zendaya’s movie looks (Dune, Challengers)–it always was crystal clear how much love and fun went into sourcing them. Many of them were referential instead of on-the-nose and that helped it feel playful. These are just like, pink, check; green, check. Ariana basically wore a Glinda costume the other day. They never even bothered to find Ariana a blond shade that worked for her. Poor thing has looked wretched for like 2 years now. But everyone’s getting paid to look silly, so… enjoy your money.
Meanwhile JLo pulling all the focus by looking fabulous in a great dress. Good for her!
I remember Zendaya showing up looking like a tennis ball for some of the challengers promo tour so some of her looks were costume-y and on the nose. Her Dune looks were great though
Ariana Grande seems to be anorexic a lot. And too many surgeries it is not good.
Cynthia Erivo does look like she has lost a lot of weight in her head? In a photo last week you could see all her chest bones. She does not look well at all. Before this movie she looked incredibly healthy.
Oh JLo, looking absolutely stunning as ever to soothe us in these awful times. Can’t wait to see who her next husband will be.
I’m very bored by the obvious theme dressing promo tour trend. I blame Law Roach.
Not going to comment on Ariana and Cynthia’s appearance.
The year of promotions I suspect is due to Ariana’s shenanigans last year that resulted in backlash and people outright stating they had no desire to see the film due to her having an affair with a married costar and breaking up the family and marriage. They are still together so now the studio has been trying to earn goodwill back and court the broadway fandom to overlook her behavior and see the film hence the OGs being present, the endless theme dressing, the Olympics pop up, the award show appearances, etc. I think in spite of her behavior the film will do well but I don’t think it will do well ENOUGH to cover the budget of the film and exorbitant marketing budget they have used doing promo all year along with endless previews. The film alone cost 145 million to make but the marketing budget I suspect is around 100 million as well. Thats a lot of money they have to make back JUST to break even.
That marketing spend is why I’m surprised they are doing so much promo as surely they want to break even. Do they really think less people will see it if they don’t do so much?
Ethan Slater was a willing participant. It’s completely sexist to cast all the blame on Ariana.
On the plus side, I do not hate movies driven by female characters getting a lot of attention. Not sure if it will pay off at the box office, but Barbie did that theme dressing for a looooooong time, too, and everyone was so enamored of that.
In Margot Robbie’s case the costumes were different every time, because she recreated different Barbie editions from different eras. There was variation, an element of surprise and emotional reaction to recognizing “your Barbie” in one of her appearances. Cynthia looks amazing in green, but to me it’s just one green dress after the other. Same with Ariana’s fragile princess looks and poses.
There was some variation, but very little. That hot pink color was the main element for a very long time. idk, given the climate these days, I just can’t bring myself to bash their outfits. I personally have been loving the green.
So Ari can finally ditch Spongebob Sidepiece in the quiet of late January? Maybe even by new year’s eve? You know she is over it by now.
I wonder if she has to wait until Part 2?
I really wish this wasn’t two parts, I would go see it but don’t want to see half a movie. But I did hear it was good.
I don’t love the theme dressing, these look like costumes for their characters.
They’re trying to copy the PR for Barbie. Margot Robbie dressed in pink and scaled Barbie recreations for months. I guess the studio thinks if it worked for Barbie, it will work for Wicked.
I must have Kristen’s gold dress. Love it.
AG looks Asian.
I feel like the movie will do well. It already has a fan base and it’s a holiday family movie. That said, the pink/green think can be retired. Is there any more premieres left? They should really do all black goth or something. Change it up.
It probably will and I can’t exactly say that’s a bad thing. But to the non-built-in-fans it’s all a bit jarring and dark.
Am I imagining it, or did Cynthia lose a considerable amount of weight over the last year? She looks a lot like Ari now…and it’s making me hungry.
I think the no eyebrow look is more jarring to me. But there have been sets where there is initially only one super thin person and then all the women get super thin (eg Ally McBeal).
I have not been paying much attention to the promotion and so I’m not bored with their themed dressing (but I can see why it would be boring). I thought the looks were so striking and just had to click on the article. I think they look great! So does JLo!!
They both look very slight, I wonder if they’re okay.
Wicked is a phenomenal musical and the advance reviews of the film have been extremely positive, so I hope the movie does well.
For ages I’ve been wondering why Ariana insists so hard with the FULLY bleached look. Like, I’m not just talking about the hair and eyebrows. All of her looks completely devoid of any color, to the point in which I’ve actually wondered whether she’s sick or something. The pastel pink only accentuates it further. Is this becase of all the blackfishing accusations?
I read that she’s been copying Rosé’s look. Look her up, Ariana is practically Single-White-Female-ing her.
…I hadn’t made that connection until now. It’s not getting any better for her.
Chenowith is a golden barbie – LOVE it! Jlo and Cynthia look great as well.
I’ve also heard raves about how great wicked is. I don’t know how well it will do, because so many people dislike musicals. I don’ t. I grew up on them. But I bet if it’s a hit it will do well awards wise.
I’ve been wondering that too. I haven’t seen the musical and I typically don’t enjoy musical theater (it’s just not for me), but I did read the book this summer in anticipation of the movie release and it was super booooorrrring.
Started and could not finish, it dragged for me.
I love this pink 1950ish prom dress look. Cute.
Good Lord, it isn’t even out yet?! Yeah, they exhausted me already 😀
Idina and Kristen both look AMAZING! I’m so glad that they were there.
Omg! They looked so good! Radiant and bright. Loved seeing them there.
Agreed! And I’m here for Jonathan Bailey.
I thought they hated each other
Yeah, it’s definitely getting tired. I was never the audience for this film as a book lover who disliked the musical adaptation, but the cherry on top for not seeing it was the behind the scenes drama. Somehow I managed to ignore Ari when she was just messing around with random men but breaking up a family is gross.
I wasn’t interested to begin with since I find the musical a fairly underwhelming, YA version of the book, but all this promotion is not covering up the main problem with the film, which is that it looks *terrible.* So many of the clips have bad lighting, aged looking CGI, etc. What’s the point of spending that much money on a movie and then having it come out looking like something from the 90s?
Years ago when we were all fan casting Wicked on forums JLos name came up as being attached to it? But I can’t remember how. I just remember hearing JLo and Wicked a few times. That was back when people wanted Britney Spears to play Galinda
Are they having a skinny off? What is happening with these women?!?! Yikes. It’s no wonder they get along well — massive egos with the maturity of young teens and both got their current partners when they were married. Messy like messy.
I just saw an old photo of Cynthia in Essence Mag and she looked so amazing with some weight on and eyebrows.
I love the musical, and am looking forward to the movie. But none of these looks are really doing it for me.
Everyone took a page from Margo Robbie’s Barbie promotion playbook and ran it into the ground. So incredibly tiresome. It’s funny, I really want to see this movie but find both stars incredibly off-putting because of some of the crap they’ve done in real life. I hope the movie delivers.
It’s giving Cats: The Movie.
I’m giving: Hard pass.
While I loved the idea behind Wicked and its concept, I saw the play and thought it was boring. One of the most boring pieces of musical theatre I’ve ever seen. In terms of the movie, even if I’d liked the play I would probably avoid it because Ariana Grande and her stupid fake baby voice are beyond annoying….
I am sorry, I just cannot get over the ridiculous casting of Cynthia Erivo, who looks every one of her 37 years, as a young COLLEGE STUDENT. I wouldn’t normally ever say this but she looks f***ing ANCIENT! Not by normal standards (she is less than ten years younger than I am) but for this part.
They might as well have just cast Idina Menzel again!
I know she is a great singer and big theatre star, but are you seriously telling me that there was NO ONE ELSE more age appropriate who could sing Defying Gravity? GTF!
(Ariana and Jonathan are also too old, but her miscasting is so extreme it’s hardly worth mentioning)
Agreed. The casting is all wrong, especially the two leads. Also, this movie didn’t need to be two, two hour+ films. And released a year apart – why?
You’re right. It’s giving Dear Evan Hansen all over again. (the reasons were different….Ben Platt just couldn’t let go…. but the optics are the same)
Ari spent all that money tugging on her eyes and she still won’t fix those wonky eyebrows🤭
MICHELLE YEOH LOOKED AMAZING but I would not see this for her
There is no way I could ever sit through 2 hours of Ariana Grande mugging and simpering for the camera. Hard pass on this movie.
Well, she’s getting rave reviews from all the advance screeners!
IDK, maybe I’m in the minority on this site but I love the WIcked Broadway show and I’m really excited about this movie! There have been a number of people who have already seen the movie and the consensus seems to be that it’s good to great. And to all the people sick of Ariana, I bet you’ll be seeing a lot more of her because she’s been singled out specifically in all the pre-release reviews I’ve read as being one of the best parts of a great movie.