Wicked box office explained – every record it’s broken

Wicked has already defied expectations at the box office, and its record-breaking streak is set to continue into its second weekend.

2024 has been a bumpy year for musicals. Joker 2 – the pseudo musical for DC’s Gotham supervillain – was considered a failure, with only $206 million at the box office. Emilia Pérez, the musical crime caper, was a hit on the festival circuit, but has received polarizing responses from audiences upon its Netflix release.

If the genre still had a hope this year, it was with Jon M. Chu’s Wicked. The first installment of the two-part Broadway adaptation hit theaters on 22 November, boosted by a highly publicized marketing campaign and viral interviews with the cast.

So, how are the two witches of Oz faring in theaters? Here’s everything you need to know about Wicked’s box office results so far.

Wicked box office explained

After its opening weekend at the box office, Wicked has already made nearly $145 million at the domestic box office and $194 million worldwide. The budget for Wicked was $150 million.

This huge number is no small feat, especially given it was released in theatres alongside the hotly anticipated Gladiator 2, with many dubbing this double featured ‘Glicked’ similarly to how 2023 was the year of ‘Barbenheimer.’

Gladiator 2 brought in just over $55 million during its opening weekend, meaning Wicked more than doubled its earnings and is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. It’s projected to make another $100 million in the US weekend, and that’s with Moana 2 hitting cinemas at the same time.

Universal Pictures

What records has it broken?

Wicked has officially broken the record for the biggest opening in history for a Broadway musical adaptation. And when we say broken, we really mean it’s smashed this record out of the park, proving to be a popular pick for people across the globe.

The Broadway record was previously held by Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, which earned $31 million in 2014.

Furthermore, it is the third biggest opening weekend for a film throughout the whole of 2024, beating out Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and sitting just behind Inside Out 2.

Here are the highest-grossing opening weekend box office numbers for 2024 so far:

• Deadpool & Wolverine: $211,435,291
• Inside Out 2: $154,201,673
• Wicked: $164,200,000
• Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: $111,003,345
• Dune: Part Two: $82,505,391
• Twisters: $81,251,415
• Godzilla x Kong The New Empire: $80,006,561
• Despicable Me 4: $75,009,210
• Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: $58,400,788
• Kung Fu Panda 4: $57,989,905

Where does it rank among other movie musicals?

Wicked is the sixth-highest-grossing movie musical opening of all time, landing between 2023’s The Little Mermaid remake and 2016’s The Jungle Book live-action movie.

Universal Pictures

Here are the top 10 highest-grossing opening weekends for movie musicals:

• Frozen 2: $358,503,293
• Beauty and the Beast (2017): $357,026,593
• The Lion King (2019): $245,953,703
• Aladdin (2019): $214,700,000
• The Little Mermaid (2023): $164,300,000
• Wicked: $164,200,000
• The Jungle Book (2016): $132,200,000
• Frozen: $110,600,000
• Rio: $94,164,414
• High School Musical 3 Senior Year: $84,652,689

For more, check out all the other new movies out this month. You can also keep up to date with what’s going on with Wicked Part 2, find out why Fiyero has a big connection to The Wizard of Oz after Wicked, and Wicked’s one big problem.