Key Points
Wicked: For Good soared past expectations for a stunning $150 million debut at the domestic box office this weekend, and $226 million abroad.
Those figures exceed those of its 2024 predecessor by leaps and bounds, and earn the film several new box office records, including biggest-ever open for a Broadway adaptation.
Next weekend, Wicked: For Good will have to tussle with Zootopia 2, formidable competition in the family film arena.
These are no delusions of grandeur — the weekend box office is truly unlimited!
Wicked: For Good, the eagerly anticipated sequel to 2024’s blockbuster breakout musical adaptation Wicked, finally touched its bubble down for a thrillifying premiere. The Wizard of Oz riff that was over two decades in the making earned $150 million at the domestic box office and $226 million abroad, per Comscore.
Releasing in an enormous 4,115 theaters around the country didn’t hinder its first impression, as we’ve seen with other recently releases, like Sydney Sweeney’s boxing biopic Christy, which broke its own box office records in the other direction. Rather, Universal’s strategy to flood the zone turned up a per-theater-average of $36,452, one of the best of the year thus far.
Universal Pictures
The Tin Man in ‘Wicked: For Good’
For Good‘s opening figures throw a pail of ice-cold water on Wicked‘s opening performance, too, which scared up $114 million domestically and $164.2 million worldwide.
The sequel broke several records with its much-needed box office win at an otherwise listless Q4. For Good has officially earned the titles of biggest opening for a Broadway adaptation in box office history, biggest opening ever for a musical at the November box office, and the biggest opening figures for its stars, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, director Jon M. Chu, composer Stephen Schwartz, and producer Marc Platt.
One record For Good couldn’t manage to break, however, was best premiere of 2025. A Minecraft Movie still clings to that sash, having opened to $157 million in April.
Where Glinda and Elphaba fly from here isn’t as certain as For Good‘s opening dominance was. The film has earned a rave 95 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and currently holds an A on Cinemascore, but critics were largely divided on the film’s quality, with some penning outright pans. Still, the film certainly has a good chance at going the distance to become the highest-grossing film at the domestic and even perhaps global box office this year.
It’s hard at first to assess the rest of For Good‘s box office competition after its fearsome takeoff kicked up a storm of dust. But it isn’t all bad news.
Last week’s gold medal winner, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, dropped a not great, but not awful 57 percent from its $21.3 million domestic open with a $9.1 million week 2 take. That lands it in the No. 2 spot domestically with a $36.8 million overall gross and an impressive $146.2 million globally. Predator: Badlands, another IP heavy-hitter, proved its endurance with a $6.2 million week 3 haul, to make $76.8 million domestically and $159.5 million globally overall. That already vaults it over five films in the expansive franchise, where it sits poised, just $4 million behind 2004’s Alien vs. Predator, to become the series’ highest-grossing film.
Two premieres that dared to go up against For Good got exactly what they bargained for: meager returns. The Brendan Fraser-led cross-cultural comedy Rental Family earned the No. 5 spot with a $3.3 million opening. Though Searchlight hasn’t released a budgetary estimate, the small-scale picture was likely a modest enough production to be satisfied by that opening performance. Following Rental Family is the war thriller sequel Sisu: Road to Revenge, which earned $2.6 million in weekend 1.
If it were any other new release from the last two months on the calendar coming up next weekend to challenge For Good, the bout could be called right now in Chu, Erivo, and Grande’s favor. But next week’s big premiere has been marked for success since its conception.
Zootopia 2 is set to unleash the beasts at home and abroad on Friday. Though 2016’s franchise starter only earned $75 million in its premiere weekend, the prospect of a family film entering the ring ought to be a startling one for Universal. For Good is a much darker picture of Oz than what audiences glimpsed in Wicked, meaning parents may be more inclined to take their kids to Zootopia 2, especially considering the recent dearth of family films in theaters.
And if neither animated animal detectives or dueling witch besties appeal to you, there’s a third way: Also opening on Friday is Eternity, a classic Hollywood love triangle romcom with a spiritual twist, starring Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller, and Callum Turner.
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