‘Wicked: For Good’ opens to a record $150 million

LOS ANGELES:“Wicked: For Good” brought in $150 million in the U.S. and Canada in its opening weekend, setting a record for a film adaptation of a Broadway musical and ranking among the best-performing movie musicals of all time, according to the studio.

The second half of the big-screen adaptation of “Wicked,” which reunites Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba with Ariana Grande’s Glinda, posted the third-best domestic opening weekend for a musical ever, behind Disney’s 2019 photorealistic, computer-generated version of “The Lion King“ and its 2017 remake of “Beauty and the Beast,” according to Universal Pictures and Comscore’s box office tallies.

“Wicked: For Good” also helped lift a moribund North American box office from a nine-week slump, where total ticket sales failed to reach $100 million, according to Comscore.

“It’s absolutely tremendous to see all the hard work that our filmmakers, Marc Platt and Jon Chu, and our extraordinary cast of Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Bailey, put in for years, and to see it pay off so handsomely is just beyond satisfying,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic theatrical distribution.

Musicals don’t always appeal to moviegoers. Examples of modestly performing film adaptations of Broadway hits like “Dear Evan Hansen” and “In the Heights” outnumber cinematic blockbusters like the movie version of the ABBA musical, “Mamma Mia!”

Risky two-film gamble

The risky nature of stage-to-screen adaptations made industry analyst Daniel Loria initially question Universal’s decision to break the musical Wicked into two films.

“Most other studios would have made this one movie,” said Loria, senior vice president of content strategy for the Boxoffice Company, which provides data services for the industry. “The fact that you can squeeze out two blockbusters from the same IP, that’s a fantastic feat.”

Industry insiders credit the enduring appeal of the long-running Broadway musical, director Jon Chu’s inspired casting, and an aggressive marketing campaign for “Wicked’s” success.

“There’s something about it that resonates, particularly with younger viewers,” said Comscore’s box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “‘Wicked’ is to the younger generation what ‘The Sound of Music’ was to an older generation.”

Critical response to the movie was uneven, with New Yorker critic Justin Chang writing that “too much of ‘Wicked: For Good’ plays like “Oz the World Turns.”

Audiences reacted enthusiastically to the film, which earned an A grade from CinemaScore, which polls moviegoers for their reaction, and a 95% fresh rating on the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes.

“The energy and anticipation leading up to this weekend kept building and building in what became a just sensational result for us at Cinemark,” said Sean Gamble, the theater chain’s president and chief executive. “‘Wicked: For Good’ was 30% bigger than the first installment. It was our second biggest November opening of all time.”

Universal’s Orr said “Wicked: For Good” played well in Salt Lake City, Utah, which signals its appeal to families.

In addition to topping the North American box office, “Wicked: For Good” brought in an additional $76 million in 78 countries outside of the U.S. and Canada for a total estimated opening weekend tally of $226 million.