If you care to find “Wicked,” look to the top of box office charts. Universal’s adaptation of Act One (with some padding) of the popular Broadway musical was No. 1 in North America with $114 million from 3,888 theaters over the weekend.
Those dazzling ticket sales rank as the third-biggest domestic debut of the year behind “Deadpool & Wolverine” ($211 million) and “Inside Out 2” ($154 million). Among other benchmarks, “Wicked” landed the fourth-biggest start in history for a musical, ahead of Disney’s recent “The Little Mermaid” remake ($95.5 million) and behind “Frozen II” ($130 million), as well as the best opening (by far) for a Broadway-to-film adaptation, overtaking the record held by 2014’s “Into the Woods” ($31 million).
“Wicked” collected an additional $50.2 million at the international box office, bringing its global tally to $164.2 million. It marks the biggest worldwide opening for a film based on a Broadway show, supplanting another Universal musical, “Les Miserables,” with $103 million in 2012.
“It’s a juggernaut,” says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “Audiences are making the singing and costume experience their own.”
While “Wicked” was courting women (nearly 75% of ticket buyers) and families, men turned out in force for Paramount’s R-rated “Gladiator II,” the quarter-century-in-the-making sequel from director Ridley Scott. The bloody sword-and-sandal epic opened solidly in second place (though behind expectations) with $55.5 million from 3,573 cinemas over the weekend.
It’s unclear whether “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” fueled each other, à la “Barbenheimer,” an unexpected 2023 phenomenon in which tens of thousands of moviegoers opted for back-to-back screenings rather than choosing between Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” — or if “Glicked” is just an effective case of counterprogramming. Either way, this weekend was one of the biggest of the year with approximately $210 million in overall revenues. And boon times at the box office will continue through Thanksgiving as Disney’s “Moana 2” swims to theaters on Nov. 27. However, year-to-date ticket sales remain 10.5% behind 2023 and 26.6% behind 2019, according to Comscore.
“Once again, it’s clear that when healthy competition meets premium experiences, the marketplace thrives, and consumers win,” says Michael O’Leary, president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners, the exhibition industry’s trade organization. “This is a tremendous catalyst for a strong box office going into December and the new year.”
“Wicked,” directed by Jon M. Chu and starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, landed in theaters after more than a decade in development and a promotional push (including 400 brand partnerships) that rivaled the ubiquity of “Barbie.” Universal needed the song-and-dance film to strike a chord with moviegoers because “Wicked: Part Two,” which chronicles the musical’s second act, arrives on the big screen in 2025. The two films cost a combined $300 million to produce, not including the mega marketing budget.
Despite the enduring popularity of “Wicked” on stage, the box office success is something of a cinematic anomaly because musical adaptations haven’t translated on screen in over a decade, since 2012’s “Les Miserables” ($442 million globally) and 2014’s “Into the Woods” ($212 million globally against a $50 million budget). More recent attempts like Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” remake, Chu’s “In the Heights,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Cats” and “The Color Purple” hit the wrong notes for various reasons despite being based on popular productions.
Critics and audiences were charmed by “Wicked,” which boasts such Broadway classics as “Defying Gravity” and “Popular” and recounts everything that happens before Dorothy lands in Oz and saunters down that iconic Yellow Brick Road. The story takes place before, during and after “The Wizard of Oz” and charts the unlikely friendship of the green-skinned Elphaba (later known as the Wicked Witch of the West) and the perky, pink-loving Glinda (eventually dubbed Glinda the Good). The 2-hour, 40-minute movie (for reference, the entire Broadway show is 2 hours and 45 minutes) landed an “A” grade on CinemaScore and sterling 90% average on Rotten Tomatoes. Critical raves, positive word-of-mouth and the musical’s infectiously catchy soundtrack is expected to drive repeat business throughout the Thanksgiving holiday and into December.
“‘Wicked’ has become a phenomenon and demands to be seen on the big screen,” says Universal’s president of domestic distribution Jim Orr. “It’s very gratifying to see that no matter which age group or demographic you look at, audience scores are enthusiastic. We’ll have a phenomenal run into the new year.”
“Gladiator II” also carries a massive budget — more than $250 million to produce and roughly $100 million to promote — and requires outsized global returns to be deemed a success. So far, the muscular sequel is far bigger internationally and has generated $221 million at the worldwide box office.
Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington star in the tentpole, which picks up around two decades after the first film as Lucius (Mescal), the nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s emperor Commodus and son of Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla, enters the Colosseum and seeks to return the glory of Rome to its people. Reactions aren’t as strong as the original, an Oscar-best picture winner that stood as one of the highest-grossing movies of 2000 with $465 million globally, though reviews and audience scores have been mostly positive. It notched a “B” grade on CinemaScore and 71% on Rotten Tomatoes.
“[Legacy] sequels enjoy built-in awareness and interest, but they need a creative reason to exist or audiences will reject them,” Gross says. “Critics’ reviews and audience scores are not on the level of the first movie [but] business is still excellent.”
With “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” taking up most of the country’s auditoriums, the other movies in theaters had to settle for scraps. Another newcomer, World War II-set historical thriller “Bonhoeffer. Pastor. Spy. Assassin,” opened in fourth place with a muted $5.1 million from 1,900 locations. Angel Studios, the company behind last year’s sleeper hit “Sound of Freedom,” backed the film about a devout Christian who plotted to kill Hitler.
Elsewhere at the domestic box office, “Red One,” a Christmas-set action comedy starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Santa’s head of security, dropped to No. 3 with $13.3 million from 4,032 screens, a steep 59% decline from its debut. The movie, from Amazon MGM, cost $250 million and has grossed just $52 million domestically and $117.1 million worldwide to date.
Sony’s “Venom: The Last Dance” rounded out the top five with $4 million from 2,558 locations. After five weekends on the big screen, the alien symbiote sequel starring Tom Hardy has grossed $133 million in North America and $456 million globally.