Fresh off its Italian release, the highly anticipated "The Wicked - Part 2" is already setting the holiday season alight, continuing the storyline of the blockbuster "Wicked" and preparing to compete directly with the extraordinary quality of its predecessor. Directed once again by Jon M. Chu and adapted for the screen by Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz, who use the original book and music from the Broadway musical of the same name, the film—a prequel, along with "Wicked," to the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz"—will illuminate how protagonists Elphaba and Glinda became the Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch of the North, respectively, further highlighting the intensity of their emotional bond.

After challenging Oz's totalitarian regime, founded on deception and misdeeds, Elphaba is forced to isolate herself in the woods to continue her fight to defend the talking animals. Meanwhile, Glinda is recognized as the protector and benefactor of the entire kingdom, but in her Emerald City, she secretly grieves the separation from her companion. Facing an angry mob, the witches will once again confront each other, forced to choose between saving their friendship and preserving the kingdom's fortunes.

Coinciding with its Italian release, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes released its approval rating based on early press reviews. From what we can see, "Wicked - Part 2" currently has a 73% approval rating based on 55 reviews: a result that can't be considered entirely positive and, more importantly, a sharp decline from the 88% rating for the first film. Beyond the raw numbers, critics seem to have appreciated the production—flashy and eccentric like few others—and the once-again impeccable performances by Erivo and Grande. Audience opinion, however, seems more convinced, although currently based on potentially biased forecasts, as the data shows that the first viewers were primarily fans of the original film. We'll therefore have to wait a little longer to see how the film will be received by mainstream audiences.

Meanwhile, "Wicked - Part 2" has already set a new record in the United States: with a whopping $30.8 million in pre-sales alone, the film has recorded its best pre-release result of 2025. This is partly due to the preview screenings organized in conjunction with Amazon Prime, which allowed the title to surpass the excellent results of the previous film, "Superman," which stopped at $22.5 million.

Interviewed during previews, director Jon M. Chu made it clear that love, understood as a revolutionary force, is the central theme that distinguishes this new chapter from the previous one: "Our empathy and our love have always been the greatest revolution. It's the only thing more powerful than hate and resentment. And hate and resentment usually come from powerful people trying to subjugate the defenseless."

What made such a satisfying result possible was, according to the director, the choice to pursue a specific idea rather than a box office goal. This allowed the sequel to retain its soul, relying solely on the strength of its premise: "When you're a storyteller who loves your audience, you still seek some approval. That's what makes this profession different from others: you spend a lot of money to make a film, someone has to watch it. But paradoxically, by letting this whole project slide, it almost felt like an independent film, because there was no immediate result to achieve. We didn't have to wait for validation: we had to believe in what we were doing."

And regarding the inevitable obstacles encountered along the way, with an eye on the new generations, he added: "We knew there would be difficulties, but we had to stay focused and remember: this is something bigger than us. We're proposing so many ideas, so many reflections... We were bringing to life the stories we were told as children. And now that I'm a father, I feel a responsibility to my children: what stories do we want to leave them? How cynical do we want this generation to be? We want them to believe in the great dreams we believed in, but perhaps also to warn them: it's not all as easy as it seems in fairy tales."

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