Wickeddirector Jon M. Chu has requested that audience members make an unusual demand when they see the film in cinemas.
Chu, who has led the newly-released feature adaptation of the Broadway musical, complained on X/Twitter that cinemas should be increasing the volume to complement the musical’s sound.
“Tell your movie theater to turn it up to a seven…. I’ve gone to a couple screenings and they are more like a 6.4,” Chu wrote. “If you want it the way it was intended, seven is the way.”
One fan agreed that they thought the volume was too low when they saw the film, while another joked: “I’m showing this tweet the moment I walk into a theater.”
“I literally said yesterday the volume seems sooo low! I’m saying something at my next screening!” said another viewer.
Chu’s comment comes after cinema bosses reminded audiences to respect their fellow theatre-goers when attending screenings of Wicked.
In a short preshow advisory video, AMC said: “At AMC Theaters, silence is golden. No talking. No texting. No singing. No wailing. No Flirting. And absolutely no name-calling. Enjoy the magic of movies.”
Speaking to IndyStar, AMC spokesperson Ryan Noonan explained that this has been the theater’s “long-standing policy” to prevent “disruptive behavior.”
However, they wanted to emphasise these rules ahead of the release of Wicked, which includes a number of fan-favourite songs such as “Defying Gravity” and “Popular”.
“The Wicked preshow spot incorporates the themes of the film as a fun, engaging reminder to moviegoers to not disrupt the experience for those around them as they enjoy the show,” Noonan’s statement sent to the outlet read.
Wicked follows the story of Glinda the Good Witch (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West (Cynthia Erivo) and their budding friendship from when they meet at Shiz University.
The film is adapted from the Broadway version of the show, which was based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which itself was inspired by L. Frank Baum‘s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Part two of the film will be released in a year’s time in November 2025.
While Wicked is proving a hit at the box office, it has received mixed reviews from critics.
The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey gave the film a three-star review, in which she argued that the movie is “fun and well acted” but “looks terrible”.
“Wicked looks like every other film now. That’s its problem,” Loughrey wrote. “It may be the screen adaptation of the stage musical – itself based on a 1995 novel – but, within moments, it also tethers itself directly to the classic 1939 musical The Wizard of Oz.
“And while that film’s Emerald City and Land of Oz have been cemented in the public imagination as brilliant-hued dream worlds, and the most famous demonstration of the Technicolor process, Wicked is shot and lit like we’re being sold an Airbnb in Mykonos.”
“Characters are aggressively backlit, so that the audience can feel what it’s like to watch events unfold while also staring directly into the sun.
“There are ferocious performances here, and it’s clear that hours upon hours of intricate craftwork have taken place on the film’s sets, but director Jon M Chu (of In the Heights and Crazy Rich Asians fame) treats his Oz as if it were as mundane as a city block.”
