Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo star in Universal’s “Wicked: For Good.”
Universal
Universal “Wicked: For Good” defied gravity at the box office, raking in an estimated $150 million from domestic ticket sales.
This is the second highest opening weekend for a film released in 2025, trailing only Warner Bros.’ “A Minecraft Movie,” which grossed $163 million in April. It also surpasses last year’s debut album, “Wicked,” which grossed $112.5 million in the United States and Canada.
The film’s haul sets the record for the biggest opening weekend for a Broadway adaptation. With additional ticket sales in international markets, “Wicked: For Good” is expected to achieve a worldwide gross of $226 million for its first three days of theatrical release.
An estimated 10 million tickets were sold for “Wicked: For Good” during opening weekend, surpassing the 8 million sold when “Wicked” opened last year, according to data from EntTelligence.
The box office data company also reported that 30% of domestic screenings were in high-end large-format theaters, compared to 18% for “Wicked.” These tickets are more expensive than general admission and can help bolster blockbuster outings. EntTelligence noted that general tickets for “Wicked: For Good” averaged about $15.25 each, while premium screen tickets averaged $18.75 apiece.
“The Universal team has done a fantastic job of perfectly following the success of the original film a year ago and making it an even bigger debut for this second installment,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of market trends at Comscore. “‘Wicked: For Good’ expects incredibly strong gameplay throughout Thanksgiving week and beyond during the all-important holiday movie season.”
Last year, the combination of “Wicked”, Paramount “Gladiator II” and Disney “Moana 2” helped propel the Thanksgiving holiday box office to its highest level ever. This year, “Wicked: For Good” is joined by Disney’s “Zootopia 2.”
The first “Zootopia” opened in 2016 to $75 million domestically, but went on to gross more than $1 billion worldwide. Pent-up audience demand could push the film’s three-day premiere to around $100 million and the five-day Thanksgiving period north of $125 million.
“The expected impressive outperformance of ‘Wicked: For Good,’ in combination with the other films on the market, could literally give a run for its money to last year’s Thanksgiving record,” Dergarabedian said. “This is great news after all the negative stories about the tough October box office fueled the narrative.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC in Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.