‘Wicked’ On Way To $165M Global Opening – International Box Office
Refresh for Latest…: Universal’s Wicked is sitting pretty in its global debut, now with a projected $165M through Sunday. As expected, the bulk of the bucks going into the witches’ cauldron is coming from North America, with the anticipated split at $117M domestic and $48M from the international box office.
Globally, Wicked will see the biggest opening weekend for a film based on a Broadway adaption, ahead of Les Miserables ($103M); the 6th biggest opening weekend of 2024 worldwide; and the 4th biggest opening weekend ever globally for a musical, ahead of The Little Mermaid ($163.6M).
Internationally, Wicked is landing within the pre-opening range. The film is out in only 61 overseas markets, repping 65% of the offshore footprint — such majors as France, China, Germany and Japan have yet to release the Jon M. Chu-directed first installment of the Broadway musical adaptation.
Still, in like-for-like launch markets, Wicked is on its way to the top start for a film based on a Broadway adaption, ahead of Les Miserables. The $48M overseas estimate also reps the 6th biggest opening weekend of all time at the international box office for a musical ahead of Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again ($43M); and the 7th biggest opening weekend ever overseas for a musical in like-for-like markets at today’s dollars ahead of Wonka ($45.7M).
The UK is under the spell of Cynthia Erivo‘s Elphaba and Ariana Grande’s Glinda as the lead offshore market with an expected $15M+ through Sunday. The UK & Ireland launched on Friday with a huge $4.9M for the day across 2,250 screens, the clear No. 1 title in the market with a 63% share of total box office. This marks the 2nd biggest opening Friday of the year (behind Deadpool & Wolverine). It’s also Universal’s biggest opening day since No Time To Die launched in September 2021, as well as Universal’s 5th biggest opening Friday of all time. IMAX delivered the highest-grossing opening Friday in the format for a PG film.
Ahead of the Friday opening in the market, Vue founder and CEO Tim Richards noted “record-breaking pre-sales for Wicked,” which were “tracking in line with Barbie’s last year.”
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