The secondpart of theWickedmoviewill arrive in theatersin NovemberasWicked: For Good, a title drawnfrom Elphaba and Glindas climactic duet from the WickedBroadway musical. In it, the pair singabout how, because of their relationship, they have been changed for good.Its aplay on words, of course. But its doubly fitting because the firstWicked(orWicked: Part I, if youre a stickler for onscreen title cards) is the biggest and most successful example of a kind of Hollywood blockbuster thatsexplodedin popularity in the last year: A prequel that depicts the originof an iconic moviebad guy in a story thatuncovers their relatively good beginnings, beforecharting theirlargely unintendeddescent into villainy.A few months beforeWicked showed howThe Wizard of Ozs Wicked Witch of the West began her life as a mistreated outcast, longtimeTransformersfans went to seeTransformers One, whichrevealedthatOptimus Prime and Megatronwere not lifelong enemies. As young worker bots in the mines of Cybertron, they were actually best friends. And last month, Wickedwas joined in multiplexes byMufasa: The Lion King, another tale of two formerallies who drift apart, with one becoming the ruler of the animal kingdom, and the other becoming itsfearsome adversary.MUFASA: THE LION KINGDisneyloading...READ MORE: 12 Reboots That Are Also SequelsThe parallels between these three major movies released in a stretch of just three monthsare striking. Their plot beats are largely interchangeable. Their central protagonists all start as best friends (or, in the case ofMufasa, adoptive brothers)before they are driven apart by the manipulations ofpower-hungry dictators (Jeff GoldblumsWizard inWicked; Jon Hamms Sentinel Prime inTransformers One, Mads Mikkelsens Kiros inMufasa).Transformers Onestagline Discover the Origin Behind the Rivalry could work equally well forWicked orMufasa.And main characters from all three movies shift between multiple names and identities. Galinda Upland becomes just Glinda; the bot known as D-16 rechristens himself Megatron after another powerful Transformer; the lion known as Taka laterdemands to be called Scar.Prequels are not a new concept in Hollywood The Godfather Part IIjust celebrated its 50th anniversary butin the past theytypically focused on the early days of heroes rather than villains. Both versions of the mid-2000s Exorcistprequels (Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist andExorcist: The Beginning)followedthe heroic title characterdecades prior to the events of the original film. 2013sMonsters University depictedMonsters Inc.sMike and Sulleyduring their formative college years and showed how theygrew closer, notdrifted apart like the protagonists of all of theserecent, villain-forward prequels.The same goes for the Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock of 2009sStar Trek, which was technically a prequel, a reboot, and a legacyquel all rolled into one. Come to think of it,Transformers last prequel wasBumblebee,and it was about the mostly-mute (butunquestionably heroic) Autobot.Just a few months ago, Warner Bros. releasedFuriosa: A Mad Max Saga, a more traditional prequel (at least in terms of subject) aboutthe popular warrior fromMad Max: Fury Road.Warner Bros.Warner Bros.loading...Thereare a fewprecedents for this other kind of villain-focused prequel. The most famous is surely theStar WarsPrequel Trilogy,which depicted the fall of Jedi Anakin Skywalker, and his gradual transformation into Sith Lord Darth Vader. But theStar Warsprequels werent really aboutdetailingthepreviously unrevealed goodness in a famous villain, or changing audiences preconceived notions about their motivations. Or if thatwasGeorge Lucas intention, he didnt really succeed.If anything, Anakins petulant actions in Attack of the Clones andRevenge of the Sithmake Vader seemless complex than in something likeReturn of the Jedi.TheStar Warsprequels also werent aboutmuddying up the image of the Jedieither. It showed them to be a bit naive or flat-outgullible at times but notovertly nefarious. These new prequels, in contrast, dont just make their villains seem good, they also go out of their way to make their heroes look a little bit bad at the same time.InWicked, Galinda is Shiz Universitys prototypicalmean girl,until shebegins to becomefriendswith Elphaba. AtWickeds climax, she chooses to stay and work with the Wizard who she already knows is not the benevolent leader he claims to be instead of leaving with Elphaba. And whileMufasa isa Disney movie with fairly clear-cut heroes and villains, itdoesinclude scenes whereits title character shacks up with Sarabi, even though his brother Taka totally has the hots for her, a love triangle that mirrors the one inWickedbetween Elphaba, Glinda, and the hunky Fiyero.UniversalUniversalloading...The question of whyso many similar prequels all hit theaters so close together is open to debate. The popularity of the TV seriesBetter Call Saulmight have something to do with it. Recent current events in our world could also spur armchair psychologists interestsin the origins of evil, I suppose.It seems more likely, though, that Hollywood has so thoroughly wrung every last drop of juice from the legacyquel concept in the last ten years, that they recognize they need to find something (anything!) to replace it;a novel way toexploit their oh-so-valuableintellectualproperties without simply trotting out their oldstarsfor one last adventure with a new generation of characters. How many more legacyquels could there possibly be left to make at this point? (That said: New Line, if you would like to read my 185-page treatment forAustin Powers; The Grandpa Who Shagged Me, hit me up.)These sorts of prequels also have the advantage ofrecasting recognizable characters with younger actors ones who can potentially carry franchises for years or decades,and whodontdemand legacy star salaries. Speaking of Austin Powers, the upcomingShrek sequel will cost DreamWorks a fortune invoicetalent alone surely many times more than Disney paid Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr.to playthe young Mufasa andTaka.Transformers One - EPKTransformers One - EPKloading...Wicked proved to be a major hit in theaters; its currently the sixth-biggest film of 2024 worldwide, and the third biggest in the United States behind onlyInside Out 2 andDeadpool & Wolverine and ahead of legacyquels likeBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, Twisters,Gladiator II,andGhostbusters: Frozen Empire.ButMufasastarted slowly at the box office (it has currently earned just $342 million worldwide), andTransformers One, despitesome of the best reviews in the franchises history, was a borderline box-office bomb, earningjust$130 million worldwide.Wickedwas big enough, with a sequel still on the way, that we could still see more franchisesquicklyfollow suit. But only time will tell whether this new sort of villain-centric prequelis a Hollywood change for good.Get our free mobile app12 Forgotten Movie PrequelsThese prequels were made. Then they were forgotten. Or in some cases, people never knew they existed in the first place.