Going on X on the film’s opening night, ‘Wicked’ director Jon M. Chu urged viewers to ask their theaters to turn up their volume, saying the adjustment will improve the viewing experience.
“Tell your movie theater to turn it up to a 7… I’ve gone to a couple of screenings and they are more like a 6.4,” his tweet read. “If you want it the way it was intended, 7 is the way.”
Co-writer Dana Fox supported the request, sharing, “We turned it up a clock tick at our screening and it was perfect!!” Other users in the comments agreed that the volume at their screenings could’ve been higher.
‘Wicked’ debuted in U.S. theaters on November 22, starring Ariana Grande as Glinda the Good Witch and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba the Wicked Witch.
Given the leads’ history in music, the film’s sound-designer John Marquis told The Ankler earlier this month, “A lot of it did itself, just due to the nature of the way the tracks were recorded.”
“You know, you get Cynthia and Ari, and it’s track after track, take after take, of amazing vocal performances that they do live, and so the challenge with the musical, obviously, is just trying to keep it grounded, not have it pop on and off, and like, ‘Now we’re going into the musical number,’” he explained.
The musical also featured Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, and Peter Dinklage. It is currently having a strong opening weekend, expecting to earn $117 million domestically.
