Topics: Entertainment, Film and TV, Social Media, Twitter, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo
One of the most highly anticipated movies of the year hit screens this weekend and while it's received pretty all-round wicked reviews, there's one feature which some couldn't help but take issue with.
The movie adaptation starring Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey has seen few leave theaters with dry eyes across the globe.
Alas, like with everything good in life, some social media users haven't been able to stop themselves from trying to find fault with the film.
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Comparing the color grading in Wicked to the grading in The Wizard of Oz - of which Wicked acts as a prequel - one Twitter user said: "(Time to be a hater for just a few seconds) If Wicked looked like this….the five stars would have been guaranteed. Unfortunately, the lighting and color grading…are….well…odd. And I know Technicolor is impossible now, but why was there so much backlighting? WHAT WAS THE REASON???
"But still, I actually really enjoyed it! Took me back to my Theater Kid roots! I even cried."
"Wicked could have been a 10 but who the fuck took care of the color grading because wtf??????" Another user added.
A third commented: "Color grading in Wicked is fine in person but there was an obvious choice to like grade everything down to make certain musical number pop more, which is an understandable thought process but still the wrong choice."
Oh and of course Mail Online had to call it the film's 'biggest flaw'.
And director of the movie Jon M. Chu has since addressed the criticism of the film's color grading.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Chu argued 'there's color all over it' and what the movie was actually hoping to achieve was to 'immerse people into Oz' and 'to make it a real place'.
He continued: "Because if it was a fake place, if it was a dream in someone’s mind, then the real relationships and the stakes that these two girls are going through wouldn’t feel real.
"It’s also [presented in] a way we have not experienced Oz before. It’s been a matte painting. It’s been a video game digital world. But for us, I want to feel the dirt. I want to feel the wear and tear of it. And that means it’s not plastic.
"We have the environment. The sun is the main source of light. You see the vast landscapes. You see the air. You see creatures exist here."
Chu noted Elphaba (Erivo) and Glinda (Grande)'s 'relationship with the land is important' given how the wizard imposes himself on it and how that changes the nature of it too and as the pair journey their way through the two movies.
Chu added: "The [colour] contrast goes up over time because that is what Elphaba brings to this world."
Unfortunately, you'll have to wait a whole year until November 2025 to see the grading contrast in the second part to the movie.
