“Wicked” Achieves Record-Breaking Opening for a Broadway Film Adaptation

The film adaptation of “Wicked” is projected to achieve the highest-grossing opening weekend for any Broadway musical adaptation in both the UK and Ireland, as well as North America. Data from the Boxoffice Company indicates that the movie is anticipated to generate $114m (£90.6m) during its North American opening weekend. This figure surpasses the previous record held by “Les Miserables,” which earned $103m globally on its opening weekend in 2012. In the UK and Ireland, “Wicked” is forecast to take in $17.6m (£14m) this weekend, positioning it as the top-grossing opening weekend of 2024 in those regions. In North America, this weekend, which also saw the premiere of “Gladiator II” on Friday, marked the strongest box office performance before the Thanksgiving holiday since 2013, according to the Boxoffice Company. The stage musical “Wicked,” which originated from a book that created the backstory for the Wicked Witch of the West, debuted on Broadway in 2003 and has been running on the West End for two decades. The film adaptation collected $46.48m (£37m) in North America on Friday, a sum that includes Thursday premieres, and an additional $36m on Saturday. The audience demographic showed a strong female skew, comprising 72%, with 67% of viewers being over the age of 25. Daniel Loria of Boxoffice described this as a “massive victory” for Universal. “Wicked” secured the third-largest opening in the US this year, following “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which grossed $211m (£168m) in July, and “Inside Out 2,” which earned $154m (£122m) in June. Separately, the film’s soundtrack, featuring hits like “Popular” and “Defying Gravity” performed by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, has climbed into the most-played lists on various streaming services. The performance of “Wicked” in the coming weeks will determine if it can match the worldwide total earnings of other Broadway film adaptations such as “Les Miserables” ($442m / £352m) and “Chicago” ($306m / £244m). Also in North America, “Gladiator II,” a sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2000 epic, opened this weekend, earning $22m (£17.5m) on Friday and $18.8m on Saturday. The sequel is projected to accumulate $55.5m (£44.2m) over its opening weekend. However, Mr. Loria predicted that “Moana 2,” set to be released on Wednesday in the US, might claim the top position among the three films in North America. Despite this, with increased attendance anticipated for “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” during the holiday week, Mr. Loria stated, “we have potential of reaching the highest-grossing Thanksgiving weekend on record in North America by this time next week”. US cinemas celebrated the weekend’s performance on Sunday, which follows several years of disruption caused by the pandemic. The National Association of Theatre Owners declared it “one of the most successful November weekends ever at the box office”. In the UK and Ireland, “Wicked’s” opening weekend represented Universal’s biggest box office success for a film since “No Time to Die,” the most recent James Bond installment distributed by the company in 2021. “Gladiator II” premiered on 15 November in the UK and Ireland, earning $11.4m (£9m) on its initial weekend before dropping to $6m (£4.8m) this weekend. Mr. Loria characterized this as a “fairly strong performance”. He added that, alongside “Paddington In Peru,” which grossed £9.7m on its opening weekend on 8 November, these three titles contribute to “one of the most exciting box offices times in the UK post-pandemic”.