THE lead stars of the new highly-acclaimed Wicked film has responded to a viral video from a sceptical Yorkshireman.

Wicked, the film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, was officially released in cinemas last Friday in the UK – on the same day as hotly-anticipated sequel Gladiator 2.

It proved to be a bumper success at the box-office, bringing in £13.7 million as of Sunday – the best-performing opening weekend for a stage-to-screen adaptation in the UK.

The film features stars such as Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum.

Cynthia Erivo (left) and Ariana Grande arrive for the UK premiere of Wicked at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre in London on Monday, November 18Cynthia Erivo (left) and Ariana Grande arrive for the UK premiere of Wicked at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre in London on Monday, November 18 (Image: Ian West/PA Wire) It has been split into two parts and explores the origin story of Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West, played by Erivo, and Glinda the Good Witch, played by Grande, and features favourite songs such as Defying Gravity and The Wizard And I.

Fred Asquith, a social media influencer from Yorkshire, who primarily made his fame on TikTok with 383,000 followers but also has a significant following on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, posted a video across his platforms on Sunday showcasing him going to watch Wicked.

He was somewhat a sceptic on the hype around the new film but soon discovered he was wrong to judge too soon, captioning his video on X and TikTok as “well that shut me up” and then “straight white male destroyed by Wicked” on YouTube.

The shorter version of the video begins with a selfie clip of Asquith going up an escalator in what looks to be a shopping centre, accompanied by the caption, “before Wicked vs”.

*Please note this video contains swearing*

He says: “Two hours forty for the first half of musical and the trailer looks s*** so two hours forty minutes of that and then everyone’s telling me it’s f****** Citizen Kane.

“Everyone’s like ‘oh it’s gonna win Best Picture’, I’m like, can we all just calm down please.

“It can’t be that good.”

The video then cuts to a rather emotional-looking Asquith in the cinema, with “after Wicked” added to the on-screen caption, who wipes away tears as he speaks to the camera.

He said: “It was okay… it was okay.

“Wow, f*** it’s good, f*** it’s so annoying, it’s good.

“And now I have to tell everyone.”

Asquith shared a lengthier post with the video on Instagram.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Fred Asquith (@fredasquith)

He said: “Hey guys, thanks for reading down here. I went into Wicked a grump straight white male and I came out a resplendent witch defying gravity

“Watch and enjoy as my expectations are subverted in this relatable and extremely candid video about going to see the new movie Wicked and crying my eyes out.

"See you next time! Love Fred x.”

The video drummed up a lot of attention, with almost 800,000 views on X and 9,000 likes, and even attracted the eyes of famous names from the film.

Asquith posted on X a day later simply to say “omg” with a screenshot attached of a direct message sent to him by Erivo in response to his video.

She said: “Fred I loved this video so much, it made me smile and giggle, the genuine reaction hit me hard, I appreciate you sharing this and thank you”.

Asquith replied: “Thank YOU x”.

People have responded on social media in shock and awe.

James Melia said: “Well this made me cry”.

DanteysArt said: “So… what do you do now? With life? Just go on existing?  Your video was amazing and I shared it before I saw any of this… so happy!!!!”

Kevin said: “She’s so sweet”.

Ariana Grande also commented on Asquith’s video on Instagram.

She responded with three emojis: "😭🥹💘".

Asquith was equally taken aback to see the second of the film's two main stars had also seen his video and taken time to reach out.

He said on X: "CRIKEY".

Wicked the musical is itself based on the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire.