All week, the question has been how high could “Wicked: For Good” soar? In the feast or famine world of today’s theatrical box office, the spotlight has been on the sustainability of the movie’s stars, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, and the marketing muscle of Universal Pictures.
The women — and the studio — did not disappoint.
The movie is expected to take in about $151.5 million for the three-day weekend, with $68.6 million earned on Friday alone, according to Universal. Though that was not the biggest opening weekend of the year — the honor still belongs to “A Minecraft Movie” from Warner Bros. — it was the second biggest, proving yet again that if you give consumers enough of a reason to leave their house, they will.
Directed by Jon M. Chu, the conclusion of the film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical outearned the first installment from last year by 35 percent. Critical reviews weren’t as strong, but audience reaction was high. (It received an A from the exit pollster CinemaScore.) It also helped boost the overall box office, which, according to the analyst firm Comscore, is still trending some 24 percent lower than 2019, the last year before the pandemic. But the box office is up 3.3 percent over last year, when “Inside Out 2” was the highest-grossing film of the year.
And the strong showing comes as the industry has spent the week contemplating what the sale of Universal Pictures’ competitor Warner Bros. will mean to its future, and the future of theatrical moviegoing. (Universal’s parent company, Comcast, is one of three companies that put in initial bids for the studio on Thursday.)
By Friday morning, “Wicked: For Good” had already earned $30 million at the box office, lifted by early screenings that began on Monday for Amazon Prime numbers, advance screenings on Wednesday in 2,300 theaters and standard previews on Thursday in 3,350 theaters. The film hit its widest release on Friday morning in 4,115 theaters.
“Wicked: For Good” gave Hollywood a big win and a welcome reprieve from the doom and gloom narrative that has shrouded the business.
The two-hour-18-minute spectacle cost roughly $150 million to make, with production costs of $300 million split evenly between the two “Wicked” films. And at least $100 million worldwide was spent on marketing, including an expansive campaign that featured a “Dancing With the Stars”-themed episode, a brand integration with the popular gaming platform Roblox and a two-hour musical special featuring Ms. Grande and Ms. Erivo on NBC.
Internationally, the film brought in an additional $76 million in 78 markets, including Britain and Ireland, Australia, Germany and Brazil, 15 percent more than what was earned on last year’s “Wicked.”
The box office is set for a strong Thanksgiving weekend. Disney’s “Zootopia 2” is expected to have a big showing when it opens on Wednesday. And strong holdover showings are expected from “Wicked: For Good” and “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” which, as the third film in its series, has earned $30 million since opening on Nov. 14.
Nicole Sperling covers Hollywood and the streaming industry. She has been a reporter for more than two decades.
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