Popular Post PrayodiBA 612 Posted July 3 Popular Post Share Posted July 3 It’s official, John Powell will provide the score for Wicked The Movie! As evidenced by the director’s instagram post: ^^ he tagged John Powell https://www.instagram.com/p/C89lEbOp0t2/?igsh=M3BoeG4zNDM3Z241 What a wickedly good day for Powell fans! November can’t come soon enough! UPDATE: And it’s confirmed! http://filmmusicreporter.com/2024/07/03/john-powell-scoring-jon-m-chus-wicked/ John Powell Scoring Jon M. Chu’s ‘Wicked’ John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon, The Bourne Identity, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Happy Feet, Don’t Worry Darling) has recently been recording his underscore for the upcoming film adaptation of the stage musical Wicked. The movie is directed by Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights) based on the hit musical created by Stephen Schwartz & Winnie Holzman and stars Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, Marissa Bode, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James, Keala Settle, as well as Jeff Goldblum as the legendary Wizard of Oz. The fantasy adventure tells the untold story of the witches of Oz: Elphaba, a young woman, misunderstood because of her unusual green skin and Glinda, a popular young woman who has yet to discover her true heart. . As previously reported, Schwartz is also contributing new songs to the movie and its second part. Marc Platt (La La Land, The Little Mermaid) is producing the project with David Stone who also produced the stage musical. Powell has been recording his score at AIR Studios in London. Chu Wicked will be released on November 22, 2024 by Universal Pictures. Leia Sees Ghosts, dyemery, Taikomochi and 7 others 6 1 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 39,435 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 How does that prove he's writing original score? Maybe he's just involved with orchestrating the songs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doo_liss 6,436 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 6 minutes ago, Jay said: How does that prove he's writing original score? Maybe he's just involved with orchestrating the songs. Not to mention, how does this confirm his involvement at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstrox 6,915 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 The director tagged him in the post. Jurassic Shark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doo_liss 6,436 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 Just now, mstrox said: The director tagged him in the post. He has been tagged in posts about this movie for while though, why all of a sudden is it confirmed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstrox 6,915 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 I suppose this is just the first time the John Williams Fan Network and its users paid attention to Wicked - or at least noticed the tags on its director’s Instagram page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doo_liss 6,436 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 8 minutes ago, mstrox said: I suppose this is just the first time the John Williams Fan Network and its users paid attention to Wicked - or at least noticed the tags on its director’s Instagram page. Except it isn't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstrox 6,915 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 Well look at that, PrayodiBA scooped themselves months ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomsmoviemadness 3,495 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 Is that Gavin Greenaway on the stand? Look, Powell could very well do this, in whatever form. I do think tge songs have been recorded, because snippets of it were in the trailers and they usually get recorded before filming. If he is doing the score, it would be awesome! dyemery 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edmilson 8,926 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 If he's only involved with arranging the songs like in Prince of Egypt or whatever, then I don't really care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Smeltington 1,569 Posted July 3 Popular Post Share Posted July 3 The film will need a score, and it would be strange if Powell was involved, but NOT with the actual scoring. Assuming he does write the score, it could be a lot of fun to hear him use song melodies as themes and play around with them in his own style. dyemery, Yavar Moradi and Taikomochi 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doo_liss 6,436 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 3 minutes ago, Smeltington said: The film will need a score, and it would be strange if Powell was involved, but NOT with the actual scoring. He was score consultant/advisor on Encanto, which was scored by Germaine Franco.... dyemery 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smeltington 1,569 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 20 minutes ago, The Great Gonzales said: He was score consultant/advisor on Encanto, which was scored by Germaine Franco.... Well sheeeit. Although Franco was probably seen as appropriate for that project due to her background, with Powell providing "A-lister" advice. Kinda like Giacchino helping on Captain Marvel. But I guess it could go either way in this case. Yavar Moradi 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomsmoviemadness 3,495 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 I guess this is official??? PrayodiBA and Yavar Moradi 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrayodiBA 612 Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 ^^ Yesss! Finally confirmed. You can’t imagine how happy I am after I started to follow this development for months!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edmilson 8,926 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 My interest on this will depend on how much John Powell original score we will be getting. If he's only arranging the songs from the old Broadway show or whatever, then I have zero interest. Never cared for this kind of musicals and I personally think Powell's time could be better used writing a truly original score. But if he's doing the score and writing quite a bit of music, even if including bits from the songs a la Alan Menken (I guess this is inevitable), then count me in! Either way, there's two new JP works coming later this year: Wicked 1 and the Christmas Netflix movie. Yavar Moradi 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not Mr. Big 4,739 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 2 hours ago, mstrox said: I suppose this is just the first time the John Williams Fan Network and its users paid attention to Wicked - or at least noticed the tags on its director’s Instagram page. I like Wicked! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrayodiBA 612 Posted July 4 Author Share Posted July 4 So there has been 2 separate orchestra sessions for this movie (based on what I gathered form social media, mainly from Mike Knobloch's IG) First, the orchestra session for the songs. It appears that the movie version of the songs are still orchestrated and produced by the original Broadway's music team, led by the musical director Stephen Oremus Seen here is Stephen Oremus conducting the orchestra for the songs (this is from mid June, taken from Mike Knobloch's IG story): So that means, based on the above posts at least, John Powell will NOT be so much involved in the orchestration of the songs. That brings to the second orchestra session that is currently happening in Air Lyndhurst Studio London, which is probably for the score This is from Mike Knobloch's IG story, and if you can see closer, as @JNHFan2000 has pointed out, this session is being conducted by Gavin Greenaway, which is Powell's frequent collaborator conductor So based on all of those, John Powell's task will be a whole separate one from the songs, which is of course, he is going to provide the underscore (Again, the underscore, not original score) Let's wait until Powell himself explain this, but I guess don't expect any "original score" from Powell for this one. I assume the official credit will be similar to Solo Star Wars Story, which is probably going to be: "Original Music and Lyric by Stephen Schwartz, Score Composed and Adapted by John Powell" where Powell will adapt to his own liking and style, all of the already iconic themes from the songs, and I guess only create one original theme that represents something (Like how Christophe Beck has that one "danger theme" in Frozen's score) The reason why I'm so excited for this, not because of Wicked (frankly, I don't really care for it), but the chance to hear Powell's full blown fantasy score against these wonderful scenes as seen in this trailer! dyemery and Edmilson 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post GerateWohl 5,041 Posted July 4 Popular Post Share Posted July 4 This is one of these many trailers recently that more or less tell the whole story already. Rather a summary than a teaser. Terrible marketing. Edmilson, Jurassic Shark and dyemery 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holko 10,231 Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 8 minutes ago, GerateWohl said: This is one of these many trailers recently that more or less l the whole story already. Rather a summary than a teaser. Terrible marketing. Ugh, we're back to the 90s? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tydirium 1,271 Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 As a huge fan of Wicked, I couldn’t be more surprised (and excited!) for this news! I also just so happen to be in a massive John Powell phase at the moment (was listening to HTTYD 3 when I read the news). Can’t wait to see what he does with this! dyemery 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomsmoviemadness 3,495 Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 Does it really matter that this trailer in particular shows a lot? This is one of the biggest Broadway shows ever and the people watching this, probably now the story anyway. Cindylover1969 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindylover1969 50 Posted July 8 Share Posted July 8 I'm optimistically expecting a tiny bit of original material like with Danny Elfman on Chicago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstrox 6,915 Posted July 8 Share Posted July 8 I also can’t imagine this trailer is going to spoil too much of the endgame to the play (since this year’s movie is also only the first half of the musical). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bored 447 Posted July 8 Share Posted July 8 Don't give half a shit about Wicked but I'm glad John Powell's doing it! Maybe his treatment will actually get me into the music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrayodiBA 612 Posted July 9 Author Share Posted July 9 We now have an official update regarding John Powell's roles and capacities in this movie, confirmed by the original Broadway music composer himself Stephen Schwartz: ..... Award-winning film composer John Powell is co-writing the Wicked movie score with Stephen Schwartz, with Powell providing the underscoring outside of the songs themselves. In our brief June 18th email interview exclusive for The Schwartz Scene, Stephen writes, “I just spent the past week recording the live orchestra for all the song cues, and two weeks from now, John Powell will be coming to London to record the scoring cues. (I can’t be there for that because of conflicts with The Queen of Versailles rehearsals.)” Stephen adds that his efforts have mainly been on “intros to songs and, for the most part but not entirely, music within songs. We have of course consulted closely with one another throughout the process.” The following is the continuation of our email Q and A about recording sessions for the movie soundtrack: Carol de Giere: How much is film scoring a different type of storytelling from writing an original musical? Do you have the image of the film in front of you? Stephen Schwartz: I didn’t find the kind of scoring I did very different from underscoring a show. John Powell, as an experienced movie score composer, has a somewhat different approach, but we believe the two will meld seamlessly. And yes, of course, it’s impossible to score the film without watching it. I got and learned a new computer program (Logic) in order to allow me to score to picture. de Giere: Did you expand the musical themes you already created or create new ones? What was it like writing for and working with a full orchestra compared with a Broadway orchestra? Schwartz: I basically used the existing themes. John Powell may wind up creating some new themes, but I didn’t. The orchestrations for the songs are by Jeff Atmajian, whom I found to be enormously gifted and who really seemed to get my style and intentions. They were based in most cases on the original Broadway orchestrations, but of course an orchestra of eighty or so musicians is going to have much more richness of sound than is achievable on Broadway. The orchestra, made up of superb British musicians, was conducted by Stephen Oremus for the song cues, assisted by Dominic Amendum, and since both of them have spent years conducting and supervising the Broadway and touring shows, they know very well what is needed. The recording was done in the famous AIR Studios in London, which is a converted church with magnificent acoustics, especially for strings. ..... Taken from: https://www.theschwartzscene.com/quarterly-newsletter/issue-78-summer-2024-wicked-soundtrack/ ---- John Powell did in fact write new themes! (yay!!) And it looks like Powell's official credit won't be only adapting, but it's more of a co-composer type situation. Edmilson 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Anthony 617 Posted July 9 Popular Post Share Posted July 9 I literally drove past Air Studios at about 12:30am on Saturday night and thought, "wouldn't it be cool to be here when John Powell or David Arnold were recording a score". How close I was... Drawgoon, Matt C and Jay 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrayodiBA 612 Posted September 5 Author Share Posted September 5 There is a (big) possibility that there won’t be a score album for this movie, as indicated by the official soundtrack cover: This is sadly in line with how Powell not even once promote the movie in his Instagram, like he usually does, even though his involvement has been made public for months. 😔 A new trailer will be released today, and if he doesn’t repost or mention it, then that further confirms it. (But who knows, maybe he will surprise us with score album, but as the fact stands now, don’t put hope 😔) Gabriel Bezerra, Edmilson, Raiders of the SoundtrArk and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Guernsey 2,682 Posted September 5 Share Posted September 5 Worth remembering that (for some reason) it’s being released in two parts so maybe there’ll be a score album after part two comes out. Trying to remain optimistic here! Jurassic Shark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 39,435 Posted September 5 Share Posted September 5 Since when do musical movies have a lot of original score in them? This movie is going to be mostly songs, with small amounts of score that just references the songs, I'd imagine. Arpy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick1Ø66 5,976 Posted September 5 Share Posted September 5 Two parts? I don't care how popular the stage show is, this seems ambitious, especially for a musical. Feels like something that was planned back when people will still going to the movies and willing to buy tickets to this kind of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomsmoviemadness 3,495 Posted September 5 Share Posted September 5 I also find it interesting that Powell has not once posted or mentioned anything about this. Almost makes me wonder that he's more of a consultant or something than the composer. But that's just a guess. And I'm confused about the two parts, because all the trailers have shown stuff from the entire storyline of the musical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edmilson 8,926 Posted September 5 Share Posted September 5 Maybe someone could ask Powell on social media about the extent of his involvement, if they're going to release a score album, etc? He seems to be very open with his fans on Instagram. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstrox 6,915 Posted September 5 Share Posted September 5 The intent has always been a two-parter. https://deadline.com/2023/06/wicked-part-two-universal-jon-chu-moves-thanksgiving-2025-1235420679/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post PrayodiBA 612 Posted September 7 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 7 Rejoice! There will be a score album! 🥹 As evidenced from the 5 Cat Studios website, which has just been updated today with this confirmation: https://5catstudios.com/listen Powell also has just followed Wicked account on his Instagram. So expect formal announcement from him in the coming days Only 2 months away, can’t freakin wait!!! Two big Powell score to close the year, what a time to be Powell fan! 🥹 Luka, Tydirium, Smaug The Iron and 9 others 7 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edmilson 8,926 Posted September 12 Share Posted September 12 “Wicked 2″ has changed its release date, bumping up five days to open Nov. 21, 2025. The sequel was previously slated for Nov. 26, 2025, which would have put it up against Disney’s “Zootopia 2.” https://variety.com/2024/film/news/wicked-2-moves-up-release-date-1236142134/ Is Powell also confirmed for Part 2? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrayodiBA 612 Posted September 15 Author Share Posted September 15 A snippett of John Powell’s score in this reel: RPReplay_Final1726367839.mp4 https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_58-iapKXi/?igsh=MXc4eTl5MnIwZzlnbA== Clearly sounds Powelly 😍 —- You can find more Powell’s music in the story section of Universal Pictures Brasil’s Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/universalpicsbr?igsh=ZGczeTRuMXB4eWk4 Here, I recorded them for you so you don’t have to bother searching for it: RPReplay_Final1726368995.mp3 RPReplay_Final1726368995 2.mp3 Really can’t wait for the score release! Luka 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post PrayodiBA 612 Posted September 22 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 22 Another sneak peek of John Powell's score, taken from the Wicked promotional reels on Universal Pictures Brasil's Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/universalpicsbr/ -Actually, upon closer listen, the previous sneak peek and these you're about to hear, are only the demo/mock up version, not the final orchestra recording. This is a common practice by Universal, for the composers to send some draft music to be used for the promo materials, like Powell also did with Migration. Anyway, here is the new music, here I extracted the audio for you so don't have to waste your time watching the videos: RPReplay_Final1726987555 b.mp3 ^^ This one is arrangemenet of the "Dear Old Shiz" song I'm actually quite surprised of how all of these music sound very animated movie-like, with its zany-ness and quick change of genres. I guess that's why they hired Powell in the first place. And here is another new music, again an arrangement of the Dear Old Shiz song: RPReplay_Final1726987491.mp3 And here is the expanded version of the music we heard in the previous sneak peek, which is a beautiful, truly Powell-y rendition of the main chorus of the "Popular" song: RPReplay_Final1726987635.mp3 Even though we have yet to hear Powell's very own themes based on these clips, but I'm still equally excited as these music truly sound Powell as we have all come to love! --- And lastly, a new update on the score release, It's now going to be released in December as per the new update on 5Cat Studios website: This is actually a good marketing strategy as now it won't be hugely overshadowed by the main song album if it's released on the same day in November. This is also maybe a push for award season? Gabriel Bezerra, Muad'Dib, Edmilson and 1 other 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 39,435 Posted September 22 Share Posted September 22 What? Upcoming Projects are the films that they are working on, it doesn't mean soundtrack albums. It's unlikely there will be a separate score album, nor that he'll need to write new themes of his own for the score. That's not really how movie musicals work. The film will be dominated by songs, with Powell score in between at times that mostly riffs on the song melodies. And I'd only expect one soundtrack album, that has all the songs and if we're lucky a few score cuts. Cindylover1969 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrayodiBA 612 Posted September 22 Author Share Posted September 22 24 minutes ago, Jay said: What? Upcoming Projects are the films that they are working on, it doesn't mean soundtrack albums. It's unlikely there will be a separate score album, nor that he'll need to write new themes of his own for the score. That's not really how movie musicals work. The film will be dominated by songs, with Powell score in between at times that mostly riffs on the song melodies. And I'd only expect one soundtrack album, that has all the songs and if we're lucky a few score cuts. Well, the info is taken from 5 Cat Studios website https://5catstudios.com/listen and that is not a composer/artist's website. But that is a record label's website, and it's John Powell's record label. The term "upcoming projects" here is different and doesn't apply to your explaination. And if you look at the link I shared above: ^^ Wicked (Score) belongs to the SOUNDTRACK ALBUM section/coloumn, which indicates that Wicked is an album in production. And tell me, based on all of that list, which album that didn't get a release? They all did And one more thing, why even put the term "Wicked (Score)" and the time "December"; even though we all know the movie is released on November 22; if it's not in fact an information of the score album release So based on all of that, there will absolutely be a separate Wicked (Score) album release. (at least for now) Edmilson 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 39,435 Posted September 22 Share Posted September 22 Oh I see. You're saying that since the song album will surely be on a major labor, the 5 Cat Studios album would therefore have to be a score-only album. I understand now. I hope you're right! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doo_liss 6,436 Posted September 22 Share Posted September 22 43 minutes ago, PrayodiBA said: Well, the info is taken from 5 Cat Studios website https://5catstudios.com/listen and that is not a composer/artist's website. But that is a record label's website, and it's John Powell's record label. The term "upcoming projects" here is different and doesn't apply to your explaination. TBF It's also a Music Production Studio though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Gabriel Bezerra 399 Posted September 23 Popular Post Share Posted September 23 Promotional site for the movie: https://www.shizuniversity.com/en After you click enter you are greeted with a score cue by John Powell Ah, the site is also quite nice. Luka, PrayodiBA, Jay and 2 others 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 39,435 Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 Nice find! Here's a direct link to the music files https://www.shizuniversity.com/sounds/music-home.mp3 https://www.shizuniversity.com/sounds/music-popular.mp3 PrayodiBA and Gabriel Bezerra 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrayodiBA 612 Posted September 23 Author Share Posted September 23 15 minutes ago, Jay said: Nice find! Here's a direct link to the music file https://www.shizuniversity.com/sounds/music-popular.mp3 28 minutes ago, Gabriel Bezerra said: Promotional site for the movie: https://www.shizuniversity.com/en After you click enter you are greeted with a score cue by John Powell And here is the link to the super wonderful score cue by John Powell on the home page: https://www.shizuniversity.com/sounds/music-home.mp3 Just wow, wow, JOHN FREAKIN’ POWELL!! 😍😍 ——- And you can also hear more score in one of the video on that web, watch it starting from this moment: Sounds truly beautiful as well! It’s as if this is John Powell’s answer for his own version of Harry Potter score Wow, my anticipation for the score has just gone through the roof! Can’t wait for the score album!! Tydirium and Edmilson 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post PrayodiBA 612 Posted October 5 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 5 Some more new sneak peek of Powell’s score taken from the page of https://www.instagram.com/beis?igsh=MXZuZml3d2oycjF2Nw== Here I extracted the audio: video-output-AE5582C5-F29F-4D54-A574-78534C39CB9E [music].mp3 ^^ this particular sounds so much like Horton Hears A Who And: RPReplay_Final1728145288.mp3 Also, John Powell has started promoting Wicked on his instagram and has confirmed that soundtrack is coming! Raiders of the SoundtrArk, Luka and Edmilson 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 39,435 Posted October 5 Share Posted October 5 Clicking your first link just redirected me to her page in generall, but this link seems to have the music you put in your first clip https://www.instagram.com/p/DAt-FIQNijt/ Is this music also Powell? https://www.instagram.com/p/DAoHxpKMXAD/ Luka 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrayodiBA 612 Posted October 6 Author Share Posted October 6 6 hours ago, Jay said: Clicking your first link just redirected me to her page in generall, but this link seems to have the music you put in your first clip https://www.instagram.com/p/DAt-FIQNijt/ Is this music also Powell? https://www.instagram.com/p/DAoHxpKMXAD/ Oh yeah, I missed to put the exact link. Yes, that’s the correct link. For the second link, I think it is. It has a strong characteristic of a Powell cue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony 617 Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 The plucky piece that sounds reminiscent of Horton also sounds like a demo. I hear synth strings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doo_liss 6,436 Posted October 6 Share Posted October 6 I remember a satellite service tie in to HTTYD2 had a demo/mockup/synth recreation of music from the score lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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