‘Wicked’ debuts to stunned reviews – Where does it land at the Oscars?

On November 23, 2024By Littum

On last week’s episode of IndieWire’s “Screen Talk” podcast, co-hosts Anne Thompson and Ryan Lattanzio (that’s us) predicted Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked” musical at Universal Pictures would receive poor reviews. Well, we were wrong as the film has dazzled most critics, even despite our previous criticisms of the sloppy production design and filmmaking. No matter, since Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are basically locked in at this point to receive Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress, respectively. It is the film of our time, and the film we need now, etc.

In other “Screen Talk” news, Anne has been watching James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” about the moment in 1965 when the iconic folk musician transitioned to electric production. Chalamet appears poised for a Best Actor Oscar nomination, making this his second Oscar nomination after “Call Me By Your Name” snubbed the young star. Elsewhere in the picture, Edward Norton and Monica Barbaro are also candidates to play Pete Seeger and Joan Baez, respectively. The Searchlight Pictures film opens in December and looks to reinforce the narrative that mainly late-breaking films are top of mind for awards voters. That includes “Wicked,” which is headed for a smashing box office debut this weekend worth more than $120 million based on projections. Will “Wicked” and “Gladiator 2” open in tandem compete with Barbenheimer? We also discuss that here.

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We also recap the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, which Ryan attended. A few films, such as the moving artist portrait “Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill each Other,” will go on to become documentary award and critics’ nominees into 2025.

Watch the full episode above or listen to it below.

Screen Talk is produced by Azwan Badruzaman and available on Apple PodcastsStitcher and Spotify, and hosted by Megaphone. Browse past episodes heresubscribe hereand be sure to let us know if you’d like to hear the hosts address specific issues in future editions of Screen Talk.

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