Wicked: For Good<\/a>,\u201d Universal\u2019s rendition of Act Two of the musical sensation, was No. 1 with $150 million from 4,115 North American theaters in its opening weekend. The film set a record for Broadway adaptations, shattering the debut of 2024\u2019s \u201cWicked\u201d which previously held the benchmark with $112.5 million over the same pre-Thanksgiving frame. These ticket sales also rank as the year\u2019s second-biggest opening behind April\u2019s \u201cA Minecraft Movie\u201d ($162 million) but above May\u2019s \u201cLilo & Stitch\u201d remake ($146 million).<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cWicked: For Good\u201d collected an additional $76 million at the international box office, bringing its global total to $226 million. It marks the biggest overseas and global opening for a stage musical adaptation, also overtaking its predecessor, \u201cWicked,\u201d which debuted to $50.2 million internationally and $164.2 million globally. The second installment was able to grow its audience overseas, which is important because the first film had overindexed in North America.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThis is broad-appealing Hollywood filmmaking at its best,\u201d says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. \u201cStrong word-of-mouth is going to drive business through the Thanksgiving Holiday and into December. This is a smash.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAlthough the second half of \u201cWicked\u201d is much darker than the stage show\u2019s fizzy first act, audiences \u2014 71% of which were female \u2014 remained charmed by \u201cFor Good.\u201d The film landed an \u201cA\u201d grade on CinemaScore exit polls, the same as the first installment. Directed by Jon M. Chu, \u201cWicked: For Good\u201d has been billed as the must-see conclusion to Elphaba and Glinda\u2019s epic journey down the Yellow Brick Road. This entry picks up as the Wizard and Madame Morrible attempt to turn all of Oz against the newly branded Wicked Witch of the West (Cynthia Erivo). Meanwhile Elphaba\u2019s perky, pink-loving BFF embraces her public persona as Glinda the Good (Ariana Grande). Like the initial adaptation, goodwill toward the musical property and the catchy soundtrack are likely to drive repeat business through the rest of the year.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWicked: For Good\u201d is providing a necessary lift to the box office, which has been languishing in recent weeks without a major blockbuster to boost attendance. Although two upcoming releases, Disney\u2019s \u201cZootopia 2\u201d and \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash,\u201d will help to end the year on a high note, overall domestic grosses are expected to remain just 3% ahead of 2024 by the time the clock strikes midnight on New Year\u2019s Eve. That doesn\u2019t seem so bad, except that grosses last year were nearly 24% behind pre-pandemic times.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThis overperformance by \u2018Wicked: For Good\u2019\u00a0sets up a very strong home stretch for the industry,\u201d says Comscore\u2019s head of marketplace trends Paul Dergarabedian. \u201c\u2018Wicked: For Good\u2019 will inject much-needed momentum into the marketplace, and that will continue all the way through the holidays.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAs \u201cWicked: For Good\u201d loomed over the domestic box office, two fellow new releases, Sony\u2019s bloody, R-rated action thriller \u201cSisu: Road to Revenge\u201d and Searchlight\u2019s dramedy \u201cRental Family,\u201d fizzled in their respective debuts.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cRental Family,\u201d starring Brendan Fraser as a lonely, struggling actor who lands the not-so-plum job of playing stand-in roles for strangers in Japan, opened in fifth place with $3.3 million from 1,925 cinemas. Reviews and audience scores are strong (an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes and \u201cA\u201d grade on CinemaScore), which could help the film stick around over the holiday season.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cSisu 2\u201d landed at No. 6 with $2.6 million from 2,222 theaters, behind already soft estimates of $3 million. Those ticket sales are behind the prior installment, 2022\u2019s \u201cSisu,\u201d which ignited to $3.3 million before tapping out with $7 million domestically and $14 million globally. <\/p>\n
\n\tHoldover titles, including \u201cNow You See Me: Now You Don\u2019t,\u201d \u201cPredator: Badlands\u201d and \u201cThe Running Man\u201d rounded out the top five. <\/p>\n
\n\tSecond place went to \u201cNow You See Me 3,\u201d which added $9.1 million in its second weekend of release, a 56% drop from its debut. Lionsgate\u2019s illusionist adventure has amassed $36.8 million domestically. The film, which cost $90 million to produce, has been a much bigger hit overseas with $109 million for a global tally of $146 million. A fourth installment is already in the works.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cPredator: Badlands\u201d was No. 3 with $6.5 million in its third weekend, while \u201cThe Running Man\u201d wasn\u2019t far behind in fourth place with $6.1 million in its sophomore outing. Both are big-budget tentpoles that will struggle to recoup their budgets since theater owners get to keep half of ticket sales. \u201cBadlands,\u201d which cost $105 million, has earned $76 million domestically and $159.6 million globally. \u201cThe Running Man,\u201d which carries a $110 million price tag, has generated just $27 million in North America and $48.3 million worldwide. Better keep running, man. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Glinda and Elphaba remain \u201cvery very popular\u201d at the box office. \u201cWicked: For Good,\u201d Universal\u2019s rendition of Act…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":399505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[171,67,132,68,148123],"class_list":{"0":"post-399504","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us","12":"tag-wicked-for-good"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115600074190901980","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}