A two-hour fantasy film about battling witches that doesn’t have any magic in it – now that could do with a trigger warning.
But cinema-goers flocking to see newly released Wicked: For Good are being soberly informed to prepare themselves mentally to see characters who ‘cast magical spells on one another’.
The film, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, is the sequel to last year’s Wizard Of Oz-inspired fantasy hit Wicked – before which cinema-goers were warned that it contained scenes in which a green-skinned character faced ‘discrimination’.
Now fans of the Wicked franchise, inspired by the 1939 Judy Garland classic, are also being cautioned about cyclones – no doubt a warning that Dorothy could have done with before one transported her from Kansas to Oz.
The British Board of Film Classification has awarded the Hollywood adaptation of the long-running West End and Broadway musical a PG rating – meaning all ages are allowed to attend, with parental guidance advised.
Wicked chronicles the back-stories of Wicked Witch of the West Elphaba, played by Ms Erivo, 38, and Glinda the Good, played by US singer Ms Grande, 32.
It builds on the characters introduced in Frank Baum’s 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, which was adapted for the original film.
The BBFC warns on its website that ‘occasional threatening scenes include people caught by falling debris in a cyclone and fantastical creatures rampaging through a crowd’.
Cinema-goers flocking to see newly released Wicked: For Good are being soberly informed to prepare themselves mentally to see characters who ‘cast magical spells on one another’
It helpfully tells cinema-goers: ‘Characters also use guns and cast magical spells on one another.’ And, referring to the classic moment when the Wicked Witch is vanquished, it says: ‘It is implied that a character melts when doused in water.’
The sequel to Wicked, pictured, was released this weekend and is darker in tone than the first film, which earned ten Oscar nominations including Best Picture.
Ms Erivo and Ms Grande also bagged Academy Award nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively.
Last month, Amazon faced a backlash for adding trigger warnings to almost all the James Bond films, with some flagged for ‘womanising’.
