The opening weekend of Wicked: For Good certainly showed that, as a franchise, Wicked isn’t slowing down. With early rumblings that we might actually see more movies based on this world, the franchise appears to have long-term potential, and one place where you almost always see successful franchises with broad appeal turn up is theme parks.
Universal’s theme parks have already incorporated Wicked in small ways, making Glinda and Elphaba available as meet and greet characters and having costume displays in the parks, but there is already talk about the possibility of getting a Wicked land in a Universal park, and Jon M. Chu already has great ideas.
Wicked Almost Had A Theme Park Ride In The Movie
Speaking with Patrick Dougall, director of Wicked, Jon M. Chu discussed the fact that something that greatly resembled a theme park attraction almost appeared in Wicked: Part One, and if a Wicked theme park land ever did come to pass, he would love to see his original idea become a real ride. He described it, saying:
I would love for them to go into Whizomania as a ride. You were supposed to sit in this thing, and it spins you around. It’s supposed to be an immersive show, so you like, pop up, and you would be almost at the ground level of this show and it would be happening to your left, it would spin you to the right, it would spin you upside down, it would be a mirror and it would be happening above you, it was supposed to be this crazy thing and so I think that would be really fun.
Basically, Jon M. Chu’s original concept for “Whizomania,” the sequence in Wicked Part One that saw Elphaba and Glinda arrive at the Emerald City for the first time and tour through it, sounds exactly like the construction of a classic dark ride. Certainly, if you were making a ride based on any version of The Wizard of Oz, an attraction that let guests experience the Emerald City would be on the top of the list.
But Chu isn’t done. Not only is he ready for a Wicked attraction, but he’s ready for an entire Wicked land, including spots to grab food and merchandise. Universal Creative needs to hire this guy right now. He continued:
Having a cafe, where you can get the coffee and the things all from there. We could smell the tulips. You can grab a poppy and take it out of the place. All those things I think would be really fun. Come on, Universal, get on it.
Universal may indeed get on that very soon.
A Wicked Land From Universal Destinations and Experiences Is A Strong Possibility
The theme park side of Universal is currently in a period of massive expansion, with the recent opening of Epic Universe only a few months ago, but two other theme parks are currently under construction. Epic was built with expansion in mind, and many wonder if a Wicked land could be the first we’ll see. We could also end up seeing Wicked in the upcoming Universal United Kingdom theme park.
There are other possibilities as well. The Lost Continent area of Universal Islands of Adventure has been scheduled for demolition. At this point, we don’t know what the replacement could be. Many believe a Legend of Zelda land could be on the way due to Universal’s deal with Nintendo, but a Wicked land is just as possible.
There does seem to be a lot of interest in a Wicked theme park land from fans, and Universal isn’t blind to it. A land-based on the franchise would seem to be quite likely, the only question being where it will end up and when we might see it.