Hollywood's Broadway Babies: When Will the Big Musicals Hit Theaters?

Jersey Boys might not have topped the box-office charts this weekend, but that won’t dampen Hollywood’s enthusiasm for a good show tune. There’s still the memory of Les Misérables’ blockbuster success to keep the movie musical adaptations coming, including two big ones this December. So in case you want to brush up on your Broadway belters, here’s an update on seven movie musicals in various stages of production:

Annie
Status: Coming to theaters Dec. 19
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Quvenzhané Wallis, and Cameron Diaz
Director: Will Gluck (Easy A)
The scoop: Jay Z and Will Smith are among the producers of this contemporary Annie remake, which sets classic show tunes like “Tomorrow” to a modern beat. While the original film and stage musical were set during the Great Depression, the new version moves Annie (Wallis) into modern-day Harlem, where she’s taken from her mean foster mother Miss Hannigan (Diaz) and made a campaign accessory to aspiring mayor Benjamin Stacks (Foxx, in the Daddy Warbucks role).
Fun fact: The movie was originally conceived as a star vehicle for Will Smith’s daughter, Willow, with Sandra Bullock in the Miss Hannigan role.

Into the Woods
Status: Coming to theaters Dec. 25
Stars: Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Emily Blunt, and Anna Kendrick
Director: Rob Marshall (Chicago)
The scoop: A group of familiar fairy-tale characters, including Cinderella (Kendrick) and Rapunzel’s witch (Streep), find their fates entangled in Stephen Sondheim’s clever Broadway fable. Expect this Disney version of Into the Woods to have a happier ending than the original show, with its famously dark second act. Sondheim recently revealed that one character who dies on stage will be spared on screen (Though he backtracked on earlier comments alluding to other changes, and released a statement saying that he had since seen a rough cut and it was “a faithful adaptation of the show.”)  
Fun fact: Sondheim composed two new songs for the movie, “Rainbows” and another written especially for Streep's character.

The Last 5 Years

Status: Filming complete, but no release date yet
Stars: Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan
Director: Richard LaGravenese (Beautiful Creatures)
The scoop: The Last 5 Years was technically not a Broadway show, but ever since its off-Broadway opening in 2002, musical theater buffs have been falling in love with the score. The show chronicles a five-year relationship between actress Cathy (Kendrick) and novelist Jamie (Jordan) from first date to breakup. Both share their memories in song, but there’s a twist: He tells the story of their romance from beginning to end, while she simultaneously starts at the end and goes backwards.  
Fun fact: Despite years of musical-theater experience, Kendrick hadn’t heard any songs from The Last 5 Years before she took the role. “So many people have told me to listen to this recording and to see the show, and for some reason it just never happened,” she told EW. "I wept my way through the script before I ever heard the music."

Spring Awakening

Status: In pre-production
Director: McG (Charlie’s Angels)
The scoop: A surprise Broadway hit, this 2006 rock musical is based on a 19th century German play about teenagers’ sexual discovery. McG signed on to direct a film adaptation in 2009, and the movie has been crawling forward ever since. “We’re hopeful that we can shoot it late this summer and early fall,” writer Steven Sater told Playbill in March.
Fun fact: The original Broadway cast starred Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff, who would appear together a few years later on Glee.

Guys and Dolls

Status: Script is being written
The scoop: At the end of last year, Fox negotiated the movie rights for this perennial Broadway favorite, about two gamblers looking for love and money in 1930s New York City. Screenwriter Danny Strong (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay) has been hired to adapt the script. Otherwise, no names have been announced, though Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are reportedly being pursued for the lead roles of Nathan Detroit and Sky Masterson.
Fun fact: Guys & Dolls was first made into a feature film in 1955, starring Marlon Brando as Sky and Frank Sinatra as Nathan. Brando had difficulty with the singing, which infuriated Sinatra, who had wanted their roles reversed.

Wicked

Status: Moving forward, slowly
Director: Reportedly Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot) is in the running
The scoop: Wicked opened on Broadway in 2003, and Universal has been developing a film version for nearly that long. Based on the Gregory Maguire novel, the musical is a Wizard of Oz prequel about the relationship between the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda. In March, composer Stephen Schwartz told Vulture that the Wicked movie had finally “started gearing up.” Casting speculation has begun in earnest, with One Direction boy bander Harry Styles and Lea Michele rumored to be on the studio’s wish list.
Fun fact: Wicked was originally intended to be a movie, not a stage musical. After the screenplay had been written, the producers decided it might be more successful on Broadway.

West Side Story

Status: Too early to say
The scoop: Steven Spielberg, of all people, has expressed interest in adapting this Romeo-and-Juliet story for the big screen. Fox made the rights available to him in March, but that’s the last anybody has spoken of it.
Fun fact: Spielberg has never directed a movie musical — but he has made films featuring jets (Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal) and sharks (Jaws).

Photo credits: Columbia Pictures, Disney, Splash