An October, well, November surprise has arrived this awards season. Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked,” which some early box office forecasts have penciled in for a $100 million+ U.S. opening the weekend of November 14, has screened for select members of the media and the current Broadway cast. A formal review is prohibited, but we are currently allowed to discuss its charms in terms of awards season. And that surprise we just mentioned? It’s none other than Ariana Grande.

Continue reading Ariana Grande Will Cast A Spectacular Spell As ‘Wicked’ Drops On Oscar Season at The Playlist.

Is the 2024 box office ready for “Wicked“?  Universal Pictures certainly is. The studio may have three films currently in the year’s top 10-grossing films, but the worldwide revenue of “Despicable Me 4” didn’t quite beat the numbers “Oppenheimer” had last year (and didn’t even sniff those of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie“). But the first of two movies based on a wildly popular Broadway musical based on one of the most famous films of all time?

Continue reading New ‘Wicked Part One’ Trailer: Universal’s Two-Part Musical Fantasy Goes For Box Office Gold On November 22 at The Playlist.

“The Wizard of Oz” is often cited as one of the greatest films of all time. And though we tend to poopoo any talk of prequels and sequels to treasured classics, there’s no denying everyone’s excitement for “Wicked.” The two-part film debuts its first half later this year and is expected to have the potential of being a major blockbuster.

READ MORE: Summer Movie Preview: 50 Must-See Films To Watch

As seen in the trailer for “Wicked,” the film is based on the acclaimed Broadway musical and tells the story of Glinda and Elphaba, two budding witches as they go to the Shiz University to help grow their craft.

Continue reading ‘Wicked’ Trailer: Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande Lead Jon M. Chu’s Adaptation Of The Broadway Musical at The Playlist.

Intellectual property and franchising always mean trying to use some popular I.P. and spinning it however possible. And lord knows they’ve tried all kinds of riffs on “The Wizard Of Oz.” But the most recent and popular has been Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz’s stage musical “Wicked,” which itself is based on the 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire  (and yes, that’s based on the original “Wizard Of Oz” book).

Continue reading ‘Wicked: Part One’ Trailer: Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande Star In This Musical Fantasy Arriving In November at The Playlist.

Plenty of ink has been spilled on the evolution (or, depending on who you’re talking to, de-evolution) of Adam McKay, who has gone from the “Saturday Night Live” writers room to the auteur of such likably goofy Will Ferrell vehicles as “Anchorman” and “Talladega Nights” to the Oscar-winning purveyor of message movies like “The Big Short” and “Vice.” His critics—and there are plenty of them,—have accused McKay of committing the ultimate crime for a comic artist: taking himself too seriously, inhaling his own press clippings, and deeming himself not merely the co-creator of Ron Burgundy, but a somber thinker and social commentator.  

Continue reading ‘Don’t Look Up’ Review: A Smug, Glib Miscalculation From Adam McKay at The Playlist.

Despite the box office and critical disappointment of “Dear Evan Hansen,” Hollywood is still really excited about the possibilities of bringing famous Broadway musicals to the big screen. This year alone, we’ve had the aforementioned “Dear Evan Hansen,” “In the Heights,” and in December, “West Side Story.” And one of the biggest musicals of all time, “Wicked,” is now bringing in two incredibly talented singers to bring that show to life in film.

Continue reading Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande Cast In Lead Roles For Jon M. Chu’s ‘Wicked’ Adaptation at The Playlist.

So, last year, we raved about the cast for Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” It felt like the first all-star cast to rival an ‘Avengers’ film in a long time. However, it appears that Adam McKay has leapfrogged that claim and his upcoming feature, “Don’t Look Up,” might just have the best ensemble cast for a feature film…in a long time.

Continue reading Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Timothée Chalamet & More Join Jennifer Lawrence In Adam McKay’s ‘Don’t Look Up’ at The Playlist.

The MTV Video Music Awards returned to New York City for 2020 and, technically, were the first staged awards show since the pandemic began. And by technically we mean an award show where the host wasn’t set up in an empty soundstage like the recent BET Awards (except unlike that telecast it wasn’t even live). Hosted by Keke “sorry to that man” Palmer, it featured performances by Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande, BTS, Miley Cyrus, Black Eyed Peas, The Weeknd and Doja Cat, among others.

Continue reading Lady Gaga Rains Down On The 2020 MTV Video Music Awards at The Playlist.

Hey, you need to sit down. Pop has made a major comeback at the 2019 Video Music Awards. This year’s VMA class is lead by Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande with 10 nominations each. Breakout Billie Eilish follows with nine nominations and Lil Nas X crashes the party with eight.

READ MORE: Tom Hooper’s musical “Cats” with Taylor Swift gets a trailer 

Most of Swift’s nominations come for her gay-friendly “You Need To Calm Down” while Grande earned nods for multiple videos including “thank u, next” and “God is a Woman.” “Calm Down,” “thank u,” Eilish’s “Bad Guy,” the Jonas Brothers‘ “The Favourite” inspired “Sucker,” Lil Nax ft.

Continue reading Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish & Lil Nas X Lead 2019 VMA Nominees at The Playlist.

One of the biggest acquisitions in the last year for Netflix isn’t a particular movie or TV series. No, it was Ryan Murphy. The superstar producer is responsible for some of the biggest series on TV, with FX airing his long-running “American Horror Story,” “American Crime Story,” “Pose,” and “Feud” series, just to name a few.

Continue reading Meryl Streep, Ariana Grande, Nicole Kidman & More Headline Ryan Murphy’s Upcoming Netflix Musical ‘The Prom’ at The Playlist.

The Recording Academy handed out the winners of the 2019 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday night and a number of the early awards went to movie-centric nominees.

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper won Best Song Written For Visual Media for “Shallow” from “A Star is Born.” Ludwig Göransson work for “Black Panther” won Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media and “The Greatest Showman” took best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media.

Continue reading Childish Gambino, Cardi B, ‘A Star Is Born’ Big 2019 Grammy Winners – Complete List at The Playlist.

The 2018 MTV Video Music Awards lacked a significant amount of modern-day star power on hand, but that didn’t stop Video Vanguard recipient Jennifer Lopez, Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande (perhaps the only must-see) from putting on a show.  This year’s event was hosted by Tiffany Haddish and featured a cold “opening” from Cardi B who disappointed many by not performing (quite a misdirect by MTV’s promo department).

Continue reading Questionable Choices As Camila Cabello Wins Video Of The Year At 2018 MTV VMAs at The Playlist.

The nominees were announced for the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards this morning and unlike previous years, they barely disappointed.  Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars (with Cardi B), The Carters (aka Beyonce and Jay-Z), Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover) and Drake are all facing off in the prestigious Video of the Year category alone.  Baring conflicting touring schedules that means there should be a ton of major star power at the ceremony held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City next month.

Continue reading Childish Gambino, The Carters and Cardi B Lead Competitive 2018 MTV Video Music Awards Nominations at The Playlist.

MTV announced the nominees for the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards (aka VMAs) this morning and, as usual, the list of honorees was full of familiar names, videos mostly released over the past six months and head scratching snubs were everywhere.  More importantly, MTV has scraped the Best Female and Best Male Artist categories this year.  Instead, they have “combined” them into Artist of the Year. Whether that’s a better solution is clearly up for debate. 

Continue reading Kendrick Lamar, Katy Perry Lead Nominations As 2017 MTV Video Music Awards Adds ‘Artist Of The Year’ at The Playlist.