Director Jon M Chu Wants Moviegoers to Experience 'Wicked' with Better Sound

Wicked movie director Jon M. Chu is urging moviegoers to make an unusual request when they see the film in theaters.

Chu, who directed Universal Pictures' movie adaptation of the popular Broadway musical, turned to X (previously Twitter) on the opening night to request that viewers urge their theater to turn up the volume for the musical's sound. Wicked depicts the story of The Wizard of Oz's characters prior to Dorothy's arrival, with Ariana Grande playing Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba.

Ariana Grande is 'Glinda' and Cynthia Erivo is 'Elphaba' in 'Wicked.'

Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

"Tell your movie theater to increase the volume to a 7. Chu wrote, "I've been to a couple screenings, and they're more like a 6.4." "If you want it the way it was intended 7 is the way."

Dana Fox, the film's co-writer, commented on the post, saying, "We turned it up a clock tick at our screening and it was perfect!!"

Dolby, the audiovisual company known for premium cinema screenings, answered, "We've got you covered," with a salute emoji.

Some users seemed perplexed by Chu's tweet and were unaware that individual moviegoers might request a modification in the noise level of a film showing. Others said that they had seen Wicked screenings where the sound could have been louder.

Wicked movie sound designer John Marquis was asked about his technique while working on the film in an interview published earlier this month by The Ankler.

"A lot of it did itself, just due to the nature of the way the tracks were recorded," Marquis said. "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.'"

The Wicked movie is having a strong opening weekend, with a domestic debut of $117 million. Gladiator II, which debuted this weekend, is also off to a good start in second place.