I can’t believe this is true, but Wicked’s biggest song features a hidden Fortnite cameo

Box office hit Wicked features Epic Games’ Fortnite during the movie’s most iconic musical number.

The film’s finale, built around breakout song Defying Gravity, sees Elphaba burst out of a window and try to take flight upon her broom.

But what you probably didn’t realise is that, during this sequence, the sound effects you hear of Elphaba falling are taken from Fortnite.

Specifically, Wicked uses Fortnite’s sound effects that play at the beginning of every battle royale match as you leap from the Battle Bus and glide through the air down to the ground.

The detail can be seen in a video from The Rough Cutwhere Wicked’s editor Myron Kerstein discusses the complex sequence and all the visual, musical and sound effect cues that went in to putting it all together.

Kerstein doesn’t specifically call out the use of the Fortnite sound effect, but it can clearly be seen within the film’s audio mix, labelled “All Skydiving Fly Sounds (Fortnite) – Sound effects for editing”around the 7:20 mark in the video below.

Editor Myron Kerstein ACE on How He Defied Gravity in the Cutting Room for Wicked

This sound effect appears to have been released by Fortnite developer Epic Games for use, royalty free. You can take a listen to the audio track on its own below.

All Skydiving Fly Sounds (Fortnite) – Sound Effects for editing

As for Kerstein’s video, it’s an interesting watch if you’ve seen the film or have a passing interest in how scenes like this are put together – not least because Kerstein appears to find it amusing how many times Defying Gravity is paused then restarted throughout the film’s final scene (too many).

Wicked star Ariana Grande is already in Fortniteof course. So, Epic Games, when can I nab an Elphaba skin?