An effusive Jon M. Chu accepted the Golden Globe for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement for Wicked this evening with the director praising fans and enthusing, “It shows us how important making this stuff is — in a time when pessimism and cynicism sort of rule the planet right now — that we can still make art that is a radical act of optimism.”
This is the second time this the new Globe has been awarded, with the category including nominees from the year’s highest-earning and/or most viewed films that have gained extensive global audience support and produced exceptional creative content. Last year’s inaugural winner was Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.
Universal’s blockbuster musical Wicked began release in November, opening to the biggest global debut for a Broadway adaptation. It recently surpassed Mamma Mia! to become the biggest stage musical adaptation of all time worldwide. The current gross is $681.3M global.
Chu also said on stage this evening, “My parents came to this country and loved Wizard of Oz, they tell us about the Yellow Brick Road and the place over the rainbow that all your dreams come true if you dare to dream… So, when I’m up here looking at you living the dream and looking at this beautiful, beautiful cast it’s more beautiful than I ever thought it could be.”
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He continued, “I think about the hundreds of people that made this movie, the craftspeople, the painters, the sculptors, the dancers, the stunt people — everybody worked so hard and we all fell in love with movies at some point; we were all in the dark when we saw something that changed our brains and made us see a perspective that we never thought before, or opened a culture that we never believed existed before and it made us drop everything to risk everything to be here in this town right now.
“I think about how beautiful that is, that’s why this is for you the fans out there who came to the movie theaters to bring your friends and family and stay in the dark… We saw your videos, we saw your singalongs, we saw your make-up, your hair products, your bakery items… and it shows us how important making this stuff is — in a time when pessimism and cynicism sort of rule the planet right now — that we can still make art that is a radical act of optimism, that is empowerment and that is joy… When we discover that maybe the world isn’t exactly the way we thought it was, that maybe we’re a little bit Elphaba inside of us, that maybe we have that courage and that strength to not give up, but to rise up and take the road off the Yellow Brick Road and maybe discover that we can fly.”
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Wicked is the first of two planned movie chapters and follows the origin story of the witches of Oz: Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, a young woman misunderstood because of her green skin who has yet to discover her true power, and Ariana Grande as Glinda, a popular young woman gilded by privilege on a journey of self-discovery.
The two meet as students at Shiz University in the fantastical Land of Oz and forge an unlikely but profound friendship. Following an encounter with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads and their lives take very different paths.
The film is adapted from Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West with a screenplay by original Broadway musical book writer Winnie Holzman and Cruella co-scribe Dana Fox.
The film also stars Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode and Jeff Goldblum.
Wicked’s other Globe nominations this evening include Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Erivo and Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for Grande.
Among its other accolades, the movie has already won three National Board of Review prizes, Movie of the Year at AFI and has 11 nominations from the Critics Choice Awards.
Also in the running for the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Globe were: 20th Century Studios/Disney’s Alien: Romulus ($351M global), Warner Bros’ Beetlejuice Beetlejuice ($451.1M), Marvel/Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine ($1.338B), Paramount’s Gladiator II
($449.6M), Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2 ($1.699B), Universal’s Twisters ($371M) and Uni/DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot ($324.3M).