Only Two Movies Have Earned More Than “Wicked” in Their Opening Weekend at the Box Office
- Wicked has achieved another milestone by becoming the movie with the third biggest opening weekend.
- Last year's 'Barbenheimer' has handed over the torch to 'Glicked' and it has been going well so far.
- Director Jon M. Chu and composer Stephen Schwartz explained the reason behind splitting Wicked into two parts.
Wicked has officially taken over the position of everyone’s favorite musical, and for good reason. The fantasy musical film is based on Gregory Maguire’s novel, and Stephen Schwartz and Holzman’s stage musical. This film, with its stunning visuals and wonderful musical score is undoubtedly one that will be hard to replace as a favorite for a while at least.
The Ariana Grande-led flick had a grand opening last weekend, leaving behind some rather great movies that were released this year. Even so, it is still behind two high-grossing movies in terms of box office collection on opening weekend, and there is a stark contrast in the genres of these movies.
2 Films Earned Made More on the Opening Weekend Than Wicked
The buzz around Wicked has been there since last year. At first, it was about the occasional pictures from the set, and then there was the huge hurricane of reports that Ariana Grande was dating Ethan Slater, who was allegedly still married to his wife. The rumors soon stirred up an entire controversy that took months to dispel.
Eventually, the focus returned to the movie, which stars Cynthia Erivo, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, and Bowen Yang. The marketing team’s tireless work and the cast’s unrelenting promotion have earned the film the attention it truly deserves. All that combined with everyone’s hard work on the movie has resulted in its success at the box office.
According to a report by Rotten Tomatoes, Wicked had a $114 million opening weekend, which makes it the third-biggest opening of the year. It has left behind Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II but remains behind Deadpool & Wolverine, which had an opening of $211.4, and Inside Out 2, which amassed $154.2 million on the opening weekend.
Last Year Was ‘Barbenheimer’ Propaganda, This Year It’s All About the ‘Glicked’ Season
Last year, Barbie and Oppenheimer were released on the same day, but there was hardly any competition between the two when it came to the audience because no one seemed willing to miss out on either of those films despite the difference in their genres. This started the cultural phenomenon known as ‘Barbenheimer’.
Ariana Grande’s ‘Wicked’ Smashing a $760 Million Marvel Film’s Record Was Not In Our 2024 Bingo Card
This year, Wicked and Gladiator II had the same U.S. release date and were also two of the most anticipated films, so another cultural phenomenon was inevitable. Hence, the ‘Glicked’ phenomenon started and it was partly thanks to Paul Mescal who encouraged fans to watch both films during his conversation with Variety.
I think they complement each other really well because they’re so different. And if you love cinema, get out there and support it. Don’t wait for it to come on to a streamer, because we’re at a critical junction. We have been for a little while with theatrical films. If cinema is a thing for you, get out and see both films.
Although fans seem to have heeded his advice, the opening weekend collection of Gladiator II is approximately half of Wicked’s with $55.5 million. If it’s any consolation, the ‘Barbenheimer’/’Glicked’ prophecy has been fulfilled, as Oppenheimer ($82.4 million) also had an opening that was roughly half of what Barbie ($162 million) had earned.
Why Was Wicked Split In Two Parts?
Ever since fans have come out of the theatres in tears after watching the emotional ending of Wicked, they seem to have one question in mind: why was the movie split into two parts? Director Jon M. Chu answered this question two years ago, as did composer Stephen Schwartz in a fan newsletter. Here is what M. Chu had to say:
Schwartz also explained what led them to make the creative decision to split the movie into two parts instead of making one that was very long.
We kept running into two problems. The first is that even as a very long single movie, it required us cutting or omitting things that we wanted to include and that we think fans of the show and the story will appreciate. Secondly, we found it very difficult to get past ‘Defying Gravity’ without a break.
The composer claimed that this song was written in a way that would bring the curtain down, so to speak. These two reasons, added to the thrill of doing something that has not been done with a musical before, led to the movie having two parts.
