6 Reasons ‘Wicked: For Good’ Was Blanked at the Oscars

“Wicked: For Good” failed to cast a spell over Oscar voters. When the Academy Awards nominations were unveiled on Thursday, the musical found itself completely shut out of this year’s race. What makes the omission a major surprise is that just a year ago, “Wicked” received a dazzling 10 nods, including one for best picture.

Not only did the adaptation of the second half of the Broadway sensation miss out in the top category, but stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as well as the below-the-line artisans who brought Oz to sparkling life on screen were also overlooked. So what went wrong with this trip back down the Yellow Brick Road? Here are six reasons that “Wicked: For Good” was snubbed at the Oscars.

1) The musical’s second act has always been a problem

Perhaps the biggest issue with “Wicked: For Good” is the source material. As Broadway fans know all too well, Act One of “Wicked” has earworms like “Popular” and “What Is This Feeling?” before the ending on the electrifyingly high note of “Defying Gravity.” When the curtain rises on the second part, things get… messy. It’s much darker than the fizzy first act, with way too much breathless exposition and wrapping up of loose strands that don’t totally make sense in the context of “The Wizard of Oz.” On Broadway, “Wicked” famously lost the Tony for best musical to “Avenue Q” — and a lot of that probably had to do with its lackluster finale.

2) Reviews weren’t there

While “Wicked” was praised by critics, some reviewers excoriated the follow-up. Just look at the headline of the New Yorker’s blunt assessment of the film, which reads: “‘Wicked: For Good’ is Very, Very Bad.” Yes, the sequel was still certified “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes, with 66% of reviewers recommending the film. However, that’s a far (battle) cry from the first film’s 88% “fresh” rating. In the end, the sequel just couldn’t recapture the infectious charms of “Wicked,” making it too much of a good thing.

 3) Sequels don’t often score at the Oscars

Yes, some sequels have triumphed at the Academy Awards. Follow-ups to “The Godfather” and “The Lord of Rings” both captured best picture, and other recent sequels such as “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” were nominated for the top prize. But, in general, there’s a sense that follow-up films are money grabs. (Although “For Good” isn’t technically a sequel, some were critical about whether Universal needed to split the film into two parts.) Franchise entries ranging from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” to “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Creed” also failed to score best picture nominations despite the fact that the first films in their respective series were all recognized. Yet, many of those films were nominated in below-the-line categories, whereas “Wicked: For Good” was given the coldest of shoulders. Maybe they felt like having given “Wicked” 10 nominations, they’d already given the movie musical its due.

4) Box office grosses were less magical

Although “Wicked: For Good” was more popular than its predecessor in terms of opening weekend ticket sales, the second film didn’t enjoy the same kind of staying power in theaters. While “Wicked” became the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation in box office history with $758 million, “For Good” ran out of steam with $523 million globally. That’s still a strong tally for a musical (a genre that tends to struggle in cinemas) but it’s clear that audiences didn’t have as much enthusiasm for the Ozian finale. It seems like Academy voters were equally lukewarm.

5) New songs weren’t memorable

Unlike the first film, which wasn’t eligible in the best original song category (all the songs were written over two decades ago for the Broadway show, of course), the second installment was up for the two new tunes, Erivo’s “No Place Like Home” and Grande’s “The Girl in the Bubble.” Maybe voters held those ballads to higher standards since they were comparing them to musical theater classics like “For Good” and “No Good Deed.” But unlike those numbers, nobody left the theater humming “No Place Like Home” or remembered the lyrics to “The Girl in the Bubble.”

6) Campaigning matters

Grande and Erivo were everywhere for the first film, including a stop at the Paris Summer Olympics, a number of magazine covers and an ultra-viral press junket that cemented the phrase “holding space” in the cultural lexicon. Universal, worried about inundating the public for the sequel, decided to separate the two leading ladies for promotional commitments. Plus, Erivo missed several major events while she prepares for “Dracula” on the West End. But just like Elphaba and Glinda, the witchy best friends at the center of the Ozian saga, Grande and Erivo need each other — and the campaign didn’t fly as high while they were in separate corners of the world.