Filmmakers supporting filmmakers! George Lucas reached out to Jon M. Chu to congratulate him on Wicked. “He was still at the mall where he’d just seen the movie. He couldn’t have been more kind,†Chu told CBS Sunday Morning. “He’s like, ‘I see all the elements in that movie. I know how hard it is to pull it all together.†Chu said he’s never met Lucas, and was really touched that the THX 1138 auteur reached out.
It’s huge to get a big-up from Mr. Blockbuster himself as your movie is breaking box office records. Wicked is now the highest domestic grossing Broadway musical adaptation. It had the biggest global and domestic opening for a movie based on a Broadway show, as well as the biggest domestic opening for a pop star. And it’s a blockbuster prequel, something George Lucas knows all about.
And what’s all this about George Lucas going to a mall to see Wicked? Sure, he could go to a fancy schmancy theater, or even arrange for a private screening at Skywalker Ranch, but George is a man of the people. Remember that time he popped up in the background of a random documentary? And, as Twitter pointed out, we already know he’s a mall guy.