Universal responds to rumors about huge pay disparity between Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo

Universal Pictures has released reports claiming that Ariana Grande was paid millions more than her. Wicked his co-star Cynthia Erivo is “completely fake.”

After the hit musical hit theaters on Friday, November 22, rumors began circulating online that Grande received $15 million for her role as Glinda the Good Witch, while Erivo received $1 million. dollars to play Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.

“Reports of pay disparities between Cynthia and Ariana are completely false and based on the internet,” a Universal spokesperson said. Variety in a press release Tuesday, November 26.

The spokesperson did not specify how much the actors received; however, they confirmed: “Women received equal pay for their work on Wicked.”

Director Jon M. Chu Wickedwhich serves as the origin story for Elphaba, the prominent antagonist in The Wizard of Ozdebuted theatrically to $112 million domestically, easily making it the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation. In the woodswhich opened to $31 million in 2014, was the previous record holder.

Wicked has been a hit with viewers and critics alike – it currently sits at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.

While The IndependentClarisse Loughrey de ‘s found it “fun and well-acted”, she criticized it for being “aggressively overlit and shot like a TV commercial”.

It’s “shot and lit like we were being sold an Airbnb in Mykonos,” she wrote, her comments joining a general complaint made by viewers about the film’s colors appearing “washed out.”

Chu has since defended the film’s color grading, saying The Globe and Mail: “I mean, there’s color everywhere. I think what we wanted to do was immerse people in Oz, to make it a real place. Because if this was a fake place, if this was a dream in someone’s mind, then the real relationships and issues these two girls are experiencing wouldn’t seem real.

In addition to Grande and Erivo, the film also stars Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh, The Bridgerton ChroniclesJonathan Bailey, Broadway star Ethan Slater and Jeff Goldblum.

Grande recently attended a Wicked screening with his 99-year-old grandmother at a theater in his hometown of Boca Raton, Florida. Her grandmother was only 12 when the 1939 original Wizard of Ozstarring Judy Garland, was released.

“Flyed to Boca for a day to watch with Nonna at the movie theater I grew up at every weekend, Cinemark 20 in Boca,” Grande wrote on Instagram, alongside a series of photos , including one showing her leaning close to her grandmother. , Marjorie Grande, while her brother, Frankie Grande, smiled in the background.

First part of Wicked is now out in theaters, with part two scheduled for release on November 21, 2025.