Wickedcould be set to join the billion-dollar club. The 2024 movie is part of a long series of adaptations and reinterpretations. The story is a prequel to L. Frank Baum’sOzbooks, the first of which was adapted into the Judy Garland musical classicThe Wizard of Ozin 1939. The story originated as the Gregory Maguire novel of the same name, which was first published in 1995 and spawned a book series of its own. This, in turn, was adapted into a stage musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman.
TheupcomingWicked, which adapts the stage musical to the big screen, was directed by Jon M. Chu and stars Cynthia Erivo as the future Wicked Witch of the West Elphaba opposite Ariana Grande as the future Good Witch of the South Galinda. The ensemble cast also includes Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Jeff Goldblum as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero Tigelaar, Ethan Slater as Boq, Bowen Yang as Pfannee, Keala Settle as Miss Coddle, and Peter Dinklage as Doctor Dillamond. The movie will bethe first of a two-part adaptation splitting the story in half.
When The Wicked Movie Will End & Split The Broadway Musical
The Broadway musical Wicked is being adapted into two movies, with a specific moment from the stage serving as the end of part 1 to set up part 2.
Wicked’s Ticket Pre-Sale Record Puts It In 2024’s Elite Box Office Company
On October 10,Fandangoannounced that theWizard of Ozprequelhit some major milestones in ticket pre-sales on its first day. In addition to having the third-best first-day presales of all time for a PG-rated movie, it earnedthe best first-day PG presales of the year so far, besting Pixar’sInside Out 2, which is the current No. 1 movie worldwide. It has also earned the second-best first day presales of the year in general, just behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe offeringDeadpool & Wolverine.
Wickedhas the potential to become the next 2024 movie to climb past $1 billion.
BothInside OutandDeadpool & Wolverinegrossed more than $1 billion, and in fact are the only two 2024 movies to have done so at the time of writing. On top of that,Inside Out’s $1.69 billion gross has made it the highest-grossing animated feature of all time, beating out the photorealistic 2019 featureThe Lion King. Similarly,Deadpool & Wolverine’s $1.33 billion total makes it the seventh highest-grossing installment of the 34 extant movies in the MCU. Both movies' success indicatesWickedhas the potential to become the next 2024 movie to climb past $1 billion.
Wicked Should Have One Of 2024’s Biggest Box Office Opening Weekends Now
Inside Out 2 And Deadpool & Wolverine Were Both Record-Breakers
The precedent of the prior hit movies shows thatWickedcould very well earn one of the best domestic opening weekends of 2024 off the back of its pre-sale success. At the time of writing,both movies have the best opening weekends of the year so far, withInside Out 2debuting to $154.2 million andDeadpool & Wolverinegrossing $211.4 million during its domestic opening weekend. While the latter title had the No. 1 debut of the year, it ultimately fell behind the Pixar title in terms of overall worldwide gross, likely because of their different MPAA ratings.
Deadpool & Wolverineis rated R, which limited its audience severely compared to the PGInside Out 2, which was open to be screened by a wider age range.
If it follows the lead of those prior releases,Wickedcould have its domestic opening weekend land in a range between $150 and $200 million. This would easily place it among the Top 3 debuts of the year, as the third-best debut of the year so far belongs the Tim Burton legacy sequelBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, which only earned $111 million.
Wicked Needs More Than A Great Opening Weekend Domestically To Make $1 Billion At The Box Office
International Markets Need To Embrace The Musical
One potential hurdle for theWickedmovieis the fact thatit will need a robust international gross on top of its domestic gross in order to hit the $1 billion mark. Both previous hits were buoyed by overseas markets, which were familiar with their respective franchises. The originalInside Outwas a smash hit, grossing more than $500 million internationally in 2015. Meanwhile,Deadpool & Wolverinesimultaneously belonged to two successful franchises, namely theX-Menseries and the MCU.
Deadpool & Wolverineis simultaneously the 14thX-Menmovie and the third installment in theDeadpoolsubfranchise, though the character joining the MCU muddies those distinctions considerably.
It remains to be seen ifWickedhas the same kind of appeal worldwide. However, the original musical should be very familiar to global audiences. Since it opened on Broadway in 2003,productions of the show have been mounted around the worldin locations including London’s West End, Germany, Mexico, Korea, Holland, Japan, and Australia on top of a two-year international tour that took place between 2016 and 2018. This may have served to foster the same nostalgia that domestic audiences seem to already have for the property.
Source:Fandango
Wicked
Wicked adapts the Broadway musical into a two-part film, following the unlikely friendship between Elphaba, born with green skin, and Glinda, a popular aristocrat, in the Land of Oz. As they navigate their contrasting paths, they evolve into Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.
