After months of relentless promotion (remember ?), “Wicked” has finally landed in theaters, delivering a lavish and stealthily political adaptation of the beloved musical. Yet beyond hoping to defy the box office gravity of the streaming era, the film’s brightly colored explosion of pink and green makes it the movie a lot of people can surely use right now: buoyant escapism from a bruising election cycle and the uncertain future left in its wake, with a whole lot of heart — and not incidentally, a message. Movies take years to produce (director Jon M.
Chu told NBC’s “TODAY” show during the process of making the film), so they’re a highly imperfect instrument to address, or divine, public moods. Still, “Wicked’s” arrival, along with sequels to “Gladiator” and the animated “Moana,” could tell us quite a bit about how festive the holidays will be for Hollywood as well as how eager Americans are to embrace distractions in this moment. Like “ ” (which also featured lots of pink and earned a whole lot of green), “Wicked” is a showcase for its female leads, Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, she who will become the Wicked Witch of the West in the Oz story; and Glinda (Ariana Grande), the popular fashion plate.
Initially defined by hostility — or loathing, as the song goes — their relationship serves as the backbone of the film as they gradually and sweetly bond, until Elphaba’s opportunity to meet the legendary Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum, the one .