But why does the movie “Evil” unleash so many passions?

Do you remember last summer when the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon took the box office by storm? friendly competition between barbie Greta Gerwig andOppenheimer At a time when cinemas were in an alarming decline, Christopher Nolan’s film Decent Salvation.

Silver shoes

A year and a half later, a new storm is about to hit the movie planet. A contraction of Glicked Gladiator II And eviltwo of the most anticipated feature films of the year. The first, released in France on November 13th, has certainly experienced its share of controversy; there’s no denying it, the presence of sharks in the Colosseum is cause for concern.

But that’s nothing compared to the second, with the tiniest details being discussed, from the poster to the casting, including the colors and even Ariana Grande’s ruby ​​no longer seeping in The Wizard of Oz (1939), which we secretly dream of acquiring. In evilAriana Grande sports silver shoes to follow in Gregory Maguire’s already controversial book, which inspired the film and before that the hit Broadway musical.

On the way to the Oscars

Jon M. Chu’s film, which opens in theaters in France on Wednesday, December 4, tells the story of the meeting between Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande), who are destined to become the Wicked and Good Witch of the West, respectively , who was lucky enough to attend the musical’s London performance, advises not to rely on appearances, however.

The success of the music show, which had been undeniable for twenty years, already predicted the success of the film. But the numbers exceeded all expectations. On the weekend of its release in the United States, evil would collect more than 160 million dollars (151 million euros).Beautiful player, Paul Mescal, hero Gladiator IIcharacterizes the work as “extraordinary”. Cynthia Erivo’s speech was unanimous.

Ariana Grande is also rumored to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the next Oscars.As for Prince Fierro’s interpreter, Jonathan Bailey is simply adored by fans. The signature silver Versace shirt she wore to the Los Angeles premiere no doubt contributed to this craze.

Troubled loves

It is clear. evil unleashes the passions, in both good and bad senses of the word. Even before its release, the musical had its share of controversies. Some lamented the fact that the story was split into two parts, with the second opus scheduled for release in 2025. Some criticized the “desaturated” colors of the first installment, which were considered dull compared to the brilliance of Technicolor. The Wizard of Oz.

We tell ourselves that the stakes are high for fans. So the character heats up over the smallest detail. Controversies that started during filming evil. Rumors of an affair between Ariana Grande and her Munchkin Boq co-star in the summer of 2023. The two reportedly began dating while married to Dalton Gomez and Lily J, respectively would lead to the respective divorces of the two actors.And gave birth to a (fifth) dispute.

Ariana Grande’s physical transformation

In recent months, Ariana Grande has also been the subject of a lot of criticism about her body, which is considered to be too thin, in an anthology of comments with a cruel lack of subtlety, such as “are we starving them?” Many fans wondered if the singer and her co-star Cynthia Erivo, who they thought had lost weight, were “doing well”.

A controversy that Ariana Grande had already responded to in 2023. Then he assured me that he suffered much more before losing weight. At a time when she was “taking a lot of anti-depressants” and “eating badly”. the translator of Boy Min:ea also called on their fans to “be kind to each other and to themselves,” a controversy that caused us a bit of anxiety.

Poster of discord

Just like the controversy surrounding the movie poster. We remember back in October when Cynthia Erivo made a provocative post on Instagram. Then a fan was released to make changes to the fictional movie poster using artificial intelligence : The goal? Making it more in line with the commercials for the Broadway show, the version where Cynthia Erivo appears with her eyes hidden, while Ariana Grande’s face is covered more by her hand.

In her Instagram story, Cynthia Erivo does not weaken her words. “This is the craziest and most offensive thing I’ve ever seen (…”), she wrote. None of this is funny. None of this is cute. It’s degrading to me. It’s degrading to us.” And the actress added g: “Our poster is a tribute, not an imitation, to edit my face and hide my eyes. And it’s deeply hurtful.” We wouldn’t want anything in the world to be in the place of this reprimanded fan. Since then, the actress’ anger has subsided.

The Curse of the Dolls

Let’s say that this was the only blunder of this advertising campaign. But there was one that left us with a mixture of bewilderment and hilarity: The dolls were actually sold by Mattel. .. to the pornographic page. Mattel, alarmed, cited an “unfortunate printing error.” Until all boxes are removed from the market.

14 million difference?

It was once thought that the controversy would die down after the release of the film in the US. This was clearly not the case. Netizens recently claimed on TikTok and Reddit that there was a salary discrepancy between the two heroines. evil. Ariana Grande would earn $15 million (€14 million) for her performance, compared to Cynthia Erivo’s $1 million (€947,000). Even supporting actors like Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum would have earned better salaries than the heroine of the film. We also can’t let resentment get the best of us.

But the storm grew to such proportions that Universal was forced to deny it. in a press release sent to Hollywood Reporter the company claims that the articles on the subject are “completely false and based on information obtained from the Internet.” It is reported that the duo received the same salary for their performance in the film.

Rock shuffles in

We are exhausted. Even the announcement about the karaoke version of the film, which will be released in theaters on Christmas holidays, annoys Internet users. And sparking a heated debate about whether or not to sing in the cinema, the debate even sparked a reaction from Dwayne D. Rock Johnson, who urged the audience to scream because they deserve it. “You’ve spent your hard-earned money to buy your ticket, sing,” he ordered into the BBC microphone.

Fortunately, the commercial for the feature film also produced many bursts of laughter. Like this weird interview with Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, in which the pop star grabs her co-star’s XXL nail to support her. A scene that inspired many memes. In our turn, we get out of the washing machine almost out of breath. evil. But not enough to discourage us from running to the cinema, we intend to (re)discover the fabulous world of Oz and the exploits of the ever-vivacious Jonathan Bale.