Universal’s “Wicked: For Good” has hopped on its broomstick and is off and flying at the box office. Driven by hardcore fans of the “Wizard of Oz”-inspired musical wearing green and pink to theaters nationwide, the film has earned $30 million from Thursday preview and advance fan screenings, topping the $19 million preview total for the first “Wicked” last year.
That total in 2024 grew into a $112.5 million opening weekend and a $474 million domestic and a $758.5 million global run that ranked fifth among all films for the year. “Wicked: For Good” is expected to surpass that with a domestic opening of at least $150 million while already surpassing opening day totals for the first “Wicked” in markets like Italy, Portugal and Germany.
Reviews for “Wicked: For Good” were positive but less enthusiastic than for the first “Wicked” with a 70% Rotten Tomatoes score. But among the hardcore fans of the musical and its leads Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, reception is as strong as ever with an early audience RT score of 97%.
“Wicked: For Good” has long been expected to bring a swift end to the box office drought that has lasted throughout October and was only eased slightly by the $40 million opening weekend of “Predator: Badlands” and the combined $38 million launch of “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” and “The Running Man” over the past two weeks.
But from now through the end of the year, theaters are expected to enjoy a bountiful holiday season with sequels to “Zootopia,” “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” “Spongebob SquarePants” and “Avatar” leading the pack while potentially giving “Wicked: For Good” a run for its money as it tries to leg out into December.
Specialty and counterprogramming titles like Angel Studios’ “David,” A24’s “Marty Supreme,” Focus Features/Amblin’s “Hamnet” and Lionsgate’s “The Housemaid” are also expected to be key secondary contributors to the end-of-year period.
