Wicked box office explained – every record is broken

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After a viral press tour and overwhelmingly positive reviews, Wicked is finally here – and the early box office numbers are already starting to defy gravity.

2024 has been a bumpy year for musicals. Joker 2 – the pseudo-musical for DC’s Gotham supervillain – was considered a failure, with just $206 million at the box office. Emilia Pérez, the musical crime caper, was a hit on the festival circuit but received a polarizing response from audiences following its Netflix release.

If the genre had any hope this year, it was Wicked by Jon M. Chu. The first part of the two-part Broadway adaptation hit theaters on November 22, boosted by a highly publicized marketing campaign and viral interviews with the cast.

How are The Two Witches of Oz faring in theaters? Here’s everything you need to know about Wicked’s box office results so far.

Bad checkout explained

Wicked is predicted to make it before the end of the weekend $120 million at the domestic box office.

During Thursday previews, it earned $11 million from 3,300 theaters. To date, the total box office based on previews is $19.2 million.

The budget for Wicked was $150 million.

Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in WickedUniversal images

By comparison, Gladiator 2 (which also opened this weekend) is estimated to gross around $86 million in its domestic opening weekend.

What records has it broken?

If Wicked reaches $120 million in its opening weekend, it will be the biggest opening in history for a Broadway adaptation, and the fourth biggest opening of all time for a movie musical.

The Broadway record was previously held by Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, which earned $31 million in 2014.

This would also make it the third biggest opening for a film in 2024, right between Inside Out 2 and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Here are the highest-grossing films of 2024 so far:

  • Deadpool & Wolverine: $211,435,291
  • Inside Out 2: $154,201,673
  • Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: $111,003,345
  • Dune: Part Two: $82,505,391
  • Twisters: $81,251,415
  • Godzilla x Kong The New Empire: $80,006,561
  • Despicable Me 4: $75,009,210
  • Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: $58,400,788
  • Kung Fu Panda: $57,989,905
  • Bad boys ride or die: $56,527,324

Where does it rank among other movie musicals?

If Wicked reaches its goal of $120 million, it will become the the sixth most successful film musical opening of all time.

That would put it between the 2023 remake of The Little Mermaid and the 2016 live-action film The Jungle Book.

Glinda holds the witch's hat in WickedUniversal images

Here are the top 10 highest-grossing opening weekends for movie musicals:

  • Frozen 2: $358,503,293
  • Beauty and the Beast (2017): $357,026,593
  • The Lion King (2019): $245,953,703
  • Aladdin (2019): $214,700,000
  • The Little Mermaid (2023): $164,300,000
  • The Jungle Book (2016): $132,200,000
  • Frozen: $110,600,000
  • Rio: $94,164,414
  • High School Musical 3 Senior Year: $84,652,689
  • Baahubali 2 The bottom line: $80,771,971

For more, check out all the other new movies coming out this month. You can also catch up on what’s going on with Wicked Part 2 and find out why Fiyero has a big connection with The Wizard of Oz after Wicked.

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