Courtesy of Brian McGowan
Welcome back! This edition’s topics include: Wicked Part Two, Grammy nominations, upcoming Disney live-action movies, and the semifinals and finals of Dancing with the Stars.
The long-awaited second part of the Wicked movie, Wicked: For Good, was released this Friday, November 21st. The first part of the franchise came out exactly a year ago from this year’s release date, grossing about $759 million. The already iconic production of Wicked was brought to another level with the star power in the recent movies, including celebrities like Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Cynthia Erivo and Jeff Goldblum. The marketing for the movies clearly had an enormous budget, making partnerships with brands such as Tide, Stanley, Target and Gap, to name a few (of the over 400 corporate brands they partnered with). Personally, I think the marketing was shoved down consumers’ throats a bit, and that the movie would have been a huge success without the brand partnerships; but, clearly, the marketing had at least some sort of positive impact with the number of audiences it was able to reach. The first part of Wicked became the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation worldwide, breaking the record of the popular film adaptation of Mamma Mia. More to say (maybe) after I’m able to watch the highly anticipated second part!
Speaking of the Wicked cast, the song “Defying Gravity” sung by Erivo and Grande is nominated for a Grammy within the category of Best Pop Duo/Group Performance; and Wicked is nominated for the Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media. Out of the 95 categories for which the Grammys award, some of the most highly anticipated categories include: Record of the Year, Album of the Year, and Best New Artist. Some of the artists who will have a Grammy up for grabs within these categories are: Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter, Lady Gaga, Leon Thomas and Olivia Dean.
On another Hollywood note, there are multiple live-action films for classic Disney movies coming up. The live-action for Moana is set to release in July of 2026, starring Catherine Lagaʻaia as Moana and Dwayne Johnson as Maui (the original voice of Maui in the animated version). Despite the remake of the wholesome movie, the announcement has received mixed reviews. Some are saying that Disney is “out of ideas,” some continue to complain about the lack of news for the possible Tangled live-action movie despite teasers for a possible cast of the film, and some are frustrated with the hair type of the character of Moana, because of its much straighter appearance than that of the animated character and traditional Pacific Islander hair. Another creation for a live-action Disney movie was announced to star Sabrina Carpenter in the leading role in Alice in Wonderland. While no other details are available yet, it’s clear that Sabrina Carpenter’s successful career is continuing to flourish.
Dancing with the Stars final for season 34 aired on Tuesday, November 25th, with the final star contestants being Alix Earle, Robert Irwin, Elaine Hendrix, Jordan Chiles and Dylan Efron. Fans familiar with the show were excited to see the freestyle performance of the episode, which only occurs during the finals of the show. Much of the fanbase for the show was concerned with how there could possibly be a winner between fan-favorites Robert Irwin and Alix Earle (search TikTok for DWTS edits of the two to the song “The Election of 1800” from Hamilton). With each new episode of Season 34 breaking viewing and voting records (Thanks Alfonso), I would very much expect this episode to continue the trend and create the record for most-watched episode of DWTS with the most votes contributed. But finally, the results are in! The star Robert Irwin and his partner Witney Carson finished first in this season of DWTS. Earle and her partner came in second place, with the final results between the two stars being the closest in Dancing with the Stars history. After these two, Chiles came in third, Efron in fourth, and Hendrix in fifth. Despite all the excitement with the voting and celebrities this season, a point of contention for this season specifically because of its popularity is the online negativity that dancers and judges have received. Similar to my first pop-culture article, when discussing Love Island, with the intense presence of social media in our everyday lives, people are quick to share their opinions of television personalities. While everyone is entitled to their opinions, sharing hateful comments on a public platform is completely unnecessary and simply mean. Some of the dancers and judges from this season have spoken out on the amount of online hate they have been faced with these past couple of months. Don’t forget that your comments can affect real people and their lives!
