When millions around the world sit down in theaters later this month to see Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the Broadway musical “Wicked,” they will see something on the title card that is nowhere to be found in Universal’s cost-cutting version. marketing campaign: “Part I.”

The adaptation was split into two films shot simultaneously, but ‘Wicked’ is the latest two-parter to downplay its open-ended nature in the marketing lead-up to the film’s release. Movies like “Dune,” “Fast X” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” hid their cliffhanger endings away from trailers and promotional materials. And while some audience members may have been surprised when the credits rolled, each film was a blockbuster.

At a time when the box office in North America is still trying to get back above $10 billion, hiding the fact that a film is in two parts avoids a potential negative. Marketing experts say they aim to draw audiences’ attention to the elements that make a theatrical film a can’t-miss movie event that will excite rather than annoy them. The promise of “To Be Continued” before you’ve even seen part one could potentially be a turnoff, marketing executives and studio insiders told TheWrap.

“Similar to how ‘Dune’ showed Chalamet standing in giant deserts with sandworms and spaceships, ‘Wicked’ shows off two incredible singers in a colorful fantasy world that you have to see on the big screen,” a marketing executive told TheWrap. .

“Show them a ‘Part One’ and they might think they have to come to the cinema a second time to be satisfied. “‘Dune’ worked because it was a great movie in itself and was sold as such,” this person said.

Such was the case with Universal’s decision to leave “Part One” out of the marketing for “Wicked” and instead focus on stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.

As for Chu, the director rejected the suggestion that the two-part nature of “Wicked” would be hidden. “We made it very clear,” Chu told TheWrap. “We’ve made enough statements that it’s in two parts. We’ve done our very best to make sure it’s as satisfying as you can make it.”

There is recent evidence that marketing a film as the first of two parts can be detrimental to its overall box office returns. Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One was the first installment in the Tom Cruise series that ended with a direct lead-in to the next chapter of the franchise. All the marketing materials clearly stated that the film would be the first half of a major extravaganza.

But when “Dead Reckoning, Part One” underperformed at the box office in 2023 — grossing $220 million less than its predecessor — and “Mission: Impossible 8” was pushed back to 2025 due to the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes, Paramount quietly dropped the film. The title ‘Dead Reckoning, Part Two’ from the next film and retroactively changed the title of the seventh film to ‘Dead Reckoning’.

Last Monday, the studio released the first “M:I 8” trailer with a new title: “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.” The new name suggests the sequel is tied to “Dead Reckoning,” while “Part Two” is dropped entirely.

Similarly, Kevin Costner’s epic western “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1” – the first of four planned films, two of which are in production – underperformed so much at the box office this summer that New Line Cinema pulled “Chapter 2” from theaters got. planned release in August. The sequel remains undated.

Insiders who spoke to TheWrap point to the success of Warner Bros./New Line’s 2017 adaptation of Stephen King’s “It” as the first example of a film finding success at the box office without selling itself as a “Part One.”

“It” only adapted the first half of King’s novel, in which the evil Pennywise terrorizes a group of Maine children until they successfully defeat it and vow to defeat it again if it returns. The “Part One” was only revealed during the end credits of the film, which grossed $704 million worldwide. The second half of the book would be covered in “It: Chapter Two” in 2019.

Two years later, Warner Bros. and Legendary Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” out in theaters, with plans to similarly split Frank Herbert’s classic novel into two films, per Villeneuve’s wishes. “I would not agree to make this film adaptation of the book with a single film,” Villeneuve told Vanity Fair in 2020. “The world is too complex. It is a world that draws its power from the details.”

According to insiders, the decision not to market “Dune” with the “Part One” addendum seen on the film’s title card was simply because Warner and Legendary had not yet greenlit a second film. The studios waited to see how audiences would react to the dense science fiction story. Despite pandemic headwinds, the film grossed more than $400 million worldwide and won six Oscars. That led the studios to greenlight “Dune: Part Two,” which grossed $714 million earlier this year, and now a third film is in the works.

Unlike “Dune,” both parts of “Wicked” were greenlit by Universal at the same time.

Chu said the decision to split the story into two parts was the biggest and most important one he made during pre-production.

“The first thing is we have to decide whether it’s one film or two films. I mean, that will cripple any production,” Chu recalled telling the team in his conversation with TheWrap. “And the fact is: if you’re going to make two films and each film is going to be great in its own right, then you have to stick to it. You have to make that first film as great and emotionally satisfying as possible. You don’t do that if you always have a back door to make one film. You’ll never get there.”

Ultimately, Chu said, “we just committed to it.” Production on both films began in December 2022 and lasted seven months, with a break during the strikes. “Part II” is scheduled for December 2025.

Currently, “Wicked – Part I” is projecting a domestic opening weekend of $85 million, which would make it the seventh film this year to earn an opening above $80 million. Any of the other films on that list? “Dune – Part Two,” which opened to $82.5 million and went on to gross $282 million in the U.S. and Canada.

Umberto Gonzalez contributed to this report.

The post Hiding the Other Half: ‘Wicked’ Is the Latest Film to Drop ‘Part One’ from the Title appeared first on TheWrap.