Wicked Wins Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Award at 2025 Golden Globes

Wicked won his first award at the 2025 Golden Globes.

The film took home the Cinematography and Cinematography Achievement Award at the 82nd annual ceremony on Sunday, January 5. In his acceptance speech, director Jon M. Chu, who was joined on stage by Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum and Marc E. Platt, paid tribute to everyone who helped make the adaptation such a success.

Cynthia Erivo (left), Michelle Yeoh, Ariana Grande, Jon M. Chu, Marc E. Platt and Jeff Goldblum.

CBS

“We love you, thank you and stand on your shoulders,” Chu said, referring to the original play that debuted in 2003. “My parents came to this country and loved The Wizard of Oz. They would tell us about the yellow brick road and the place over the rainbow, where all dreams come true if you dare to dream. So I’m up here looking at you, living the dream and looking at this beautiful, beautiful cast. It’s more beautiful than I ever thought it could be.”

In the sequel, he recognized all the behind-the-scenes team members and film fans who contributed to the making of the film.

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Cynthia Erivo, Jon M. Chu and Ariana Grande.

Rich Polk/GG2025/Penske Media via Getty

“We all fell in love with movies at some point. We’ve all been in the dark when we’ve seen something that changed our brains and made us see a perspective we’d never considered before, or opened up a culture we never believed existed and made us drop everything and risk everything to be here in this city right now. I think about it and I think about how beautiful it is,” Chu said.

“This is for you, the fans out there who came to the theaters, who brought their friends and family and were left in the dark. We’ve seen your videos, we’ve seen your singing, we’ve seen your makeup, your hair products, your baked goods. And that shows us how important it is to do these things,” he concluded. “At a time when pessimism and cynicism currently rule the planet, we can still create art that is a radical act of optimism, that is empowering, and that is joy. So when we discover that maybe the world isn’t exactly what we thought it was, and maybe [we all have] a little Elphaba in us … that maybe we have that courage and that strength not to give up but to rise up. Get off the yellow brick road and you might discover we can fly.”

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Ariana Grande’s 59-year-old archive dress at the 2025 Golden Globes is a subtle nod to her Wicked Character

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

John Nacion/Variety/Getty

Wicked: Part One received a total of four nominations at the 2025 Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Grande and Erivo also received their first nominations, with Erivo for her performance as Elphaba in the lead actress – musical or comedy category and Grande for best performance by an actress in a supporting role for Glinda.

In December, Grande told PEOPLE that it was “so surreal” to learn that she and Erivo were both nominated. She also shared that they congratulated each other immediately after hearing the news.

We just cried and screamed together and immediately sent each other flowers, Grande said at the time. “I’m just so proud of her and us together and the work we’ve done. And to see that recognized is just so — the weight is more than I could have imagined.”

Watch PEOPLE’s full coverage of the 82nd Golden Globe Awards live from The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on CBS and Paramount+.

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Source: HIS Education