Wicked fans unite! But...don't unite too much. Here's why some green-painted Wicked fans are leaving theaters feeling blue.
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00:00Wicked fans unite, but don't unite too much. Here's why some green-painted Wicked fans
00:05are leaving theaters feeling blue. The feature film adaptation of Wicked flew into theaters
00:10on November 22nd and cast a spell on moviegoers everywhere, smashing several records with
00:15a worldwide $164 million opening weekend. It also turned out to be the perfect Friendsgiving
00:21movie event.
00:22The film, based on the wildly popular theater production, centers on Elphaba Thropp before
00:26she becomes the Wicked Witch of the West and her friendship with Glinda.
00:30You're green!
00:33Cue the pink fairy tale dresses and green face paint, as besties everywhere hit the
00:37premiere dressed as their favorite characters. Except, as some fans found out when they showed
00:42up for the film in full Wicked regalia, theaters wouldn't let them inside. In a video posted
00:46to TikTok, user jamieforced shared herself in the theater bathroom wiping off her face
00:51paint with text that read,
00:53Forced wasn't alone, either. Another TikToker detailed her makeup process as she prepared
01:02for the film, only to cut to her dejectedly walking through an AMC lobby because the theater
01:07staff wouldn't let her into her showing until she scrubbed it all off.
01:10Apparently, AMC won't let you put face paint on, so they're gonna make me wash it off in
01:14the bathroom.
01:15Both of those fans reported that their experiences happened specifically at AMC theater locations,
01:20though another person claimed that the same thing happened at a Cinemark. Plenty of other
01:24fans, meanwhile, claimed that they were able to see Wicked with no problems, face paint
01:28and all. One person said,
01:30So what in the land of Oz is going on?
01:37As USA Today pointed out, the discrepancy may come down to how strictly individual locations
01:42or employees enforce the rules. The AMC website does state that they don't allow decorative
01:47face coverings, saying,
01:49Face paint, helmets, masks, except for standard face masks used explicitly for health and
01:53safety reasons, or anything that covers the face, are prohibited.
01:57This latest trend of asking fans to wash off their face paint has some commenters confused,
02:01though. One person wrote on Forced's video,
02:04So many people did this for Inside Out, though. That's so weird.
02:07Other commenters brought up Minions, Scream, and Halloween as examples of when they'd seen
02:12people allowed into the theater in face paint or masks. Another person wrote,
02:15I went to the Minion movie painted as a Minion, and they let me in.
02:19But one of the most common explanations in the comments was that the rule stems from
02:23the horrifying incident at the premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado
02:27in 2012. There, a gunman killed 12 people and injured 70 others in one of the worst
02:33mass shootings in modern history. The incident prompted multiple policy updates in the entertainment
02:38industry in the interests of security, and AMC, for one, officially updated its rules
02:44to ban masks and fake weapons from its theaters. It's a somber reminder for an event as joyful
02:49as Wicked, but any fans who are asked to change at the theater should remember that the staff
02:54members are just doing their jobs.