Did Jordan Peele’s Upcoming Movie Cause Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s ‘Wicked’ to Change Its Release Date?

According to Variety, horror filmmaker extraordinaire is set to release his fourth feature film on December 25, 2024. But wait, there’s more. Peele’s production company Monkeypaw Productions is set to release a film with Universal Pictures on September 27, 2024. This means we are about to be blessed with two Peele-influenced productions in 2024. 

Interestingly enough some films are moving their previously announced release dates for 2024, like Jon M. Chu’s Wicked. The star-studded film had leads Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo posting on Instagram about the film’s release date switching from December 25, 2024 to November 27, 2024. 

Coincidence? We don’t think so.

Related:

Something ‘Wicked’ This Way Comes…Earlier in 2024

‘Wicked’, the critically acclaimed play, now turned into a musical film adaptation, is coming a little bit earlier than expected.

With Peele having not one, but three critically acclaimed box office hits under his belt. His 2017 debut Get Out garnered four Oscar nominations (including Best Picture, Best Director for Peele, and Best Actor for Daniel Kaluuya) and grossed over $255 million. The Lupita Nyong’o-led Us in 2019 was another box office success, which brought in over $255 million as well. And then there’s Peele’s latest spectacle Nope. The sci-fi/horror film reunited Peele with Kaluuya, pushed Keke Palmer and Steven Yeun further into the A-list stratosphere, and raked in around $170 million. 

Needless to say, Peele’s upcoming film brings in some hefty competition. And it looks like Chu’s Wicked is not trying to fight Peele’s power and instead, is attempting to ensure there’s plenty of space to obtain box office success without being in another movie’s shadow. 

Along with Grande and Erivo, Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, Bowen Yang, and Jeff Goldblum are expected to star in the upcoming film adaptation of the popular Broadway musical. With all of this star power present and the beloved nostalgia that the titular play has brought to so many, there’s plenty of room for this film to hit number one – now that it’s no longer competing with Peele’s new film. 

Still, films like Avatar 3 and Sonic 3 will place their bets, as both are slated to premiere on December 20, 2024, a week before Peele’s untitled film is expected to premiere. Not a lot of time to hold onto the box office, but only time will tell which film will stay on top the longest. 

While we have no further information about Peele’s fourth film (a trend that follows his previous work), either way, consider us ready for both Wicked and Peele’s new films.