‘Wicked: For Good’ Takes Flight With Massive $68.6 Million Opening Day — The Second-Biggest Debut of 2025

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Nov 22

Written By Jonathan P. Moustakas

Ariana Grande In 'Wicked: For Good.'- **Photo By Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures**

A cultural phenomenon returns — and audiences showed up in force to close the spellbinding two-part epic.

Wicked: For Good didn’t just open — it erupted. Universal Pictures’ long-awaited finale to the Wicked cinematic saga soared to a staggering $68.6 million opening day, securing the second-biggest debut of 2025 and reaffirming the power of event filmmaking at a moment when the theatrical landscape is still fighting for stability.

Early estimates suggested a strong turnout, but the reality surpassed even the most optimistic projections. Premium formats sold out across the country. Broadway fans showed up in costume. Eras Tour-style fan meetups popped up at multiplexes from Los Angeles to London. In New York, AMC Lincoln Square reported one of its busiest Thursday preview nights since Avengers: Endgame. That intensity continued through Friday, culminating in a box office number that rivals the biggest blockbuster IP while representing something increasingly rare: a musical whose cultural footprint extends far beyond the stage.

For Universal, this is more than a win — it’s validation. The studio’s gamble to split the adaptation into two films, paired with Jon M. Chu’s maximalist filmmaking, has transformed Wicked into a global cross-platform powerhouse. The first installment, released in November 2024, grossed $750 million worldwide, becoming the highest-earning Broadway adaptation in modern film history. But For Good, which promised emotional resolution, new musical numbers, expanded world-building, and the long-awaited destiny of Elphaba and Glinda, was designed to soar even higher.

That strategy worked. Audiences didn’t come for nostalgia — they came for closure.

A Cinematic Conclusion Built for Emotional Impact

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande brought *Wicked: For Good* to NYC on Monday. PHOTO CREDIT: DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES FOR UNIVERSAL PICTURES

What’s propelling Wicked: For Good isn’t just fan loyalty. It’s the rare sense of communal anticipation surrounding a story whose emotional center has resonated across generations. Viewers followed Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba from misunderstood outsider to mythic symbol of moral defiance; they watched Ariana Grande’s Glinda ascend to the center of political spectacle while wrestling with guilt, image, and memory. Their estrangement — expanded and deepened for the film — created the kind of serialized storytelling tension typically reserved for fantasy sagas and prestige dramas.

Chu leans into that emotional gravity. The film opens in a fractured Oz, with Elphaba in exile and Glinda basking in the glow of public adoration as the Wizard’s successor. Their intertwined fates, broken by power and repaired by recognition, bring the film to its sweeping conclusion. The word-of-mouth describes the ending as “devastating,” “transcendent,” and “the most emotional musical moment on film since Les Misérables.”

Audiences showed up to feel something — and Wicked: For Good delivered.

Why the Opening Day Matters

Ariana Grande (Left) And Cynthia Erivo In 'Wicked: For Good.' - **Photo By Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures**

A $68.6 million opening day would be impressive for any tentpole, but for a musical — a genre historically vulnerable to box office fluctuation — it’s a seismic success. It places Wicked: For Good behind only one release this year and ahead of action franchises, superhero films, and high-budget sci-fi entries. The number also positions the film to cross $150 million by the end of the weekend if turnout continues at this pace.

For the industry, this milestone offers a counterargument to the narrative of theatrical decline. While many recent blockbusters — even those with massive IP backing — have stumbled, Wicked: For Good proves that films driven by music, emotion, and performance can still draw wide audiences willing to pay premium ticket prices. The film’s global appeal, strengthened by its Broadway legacy and social-media-driven fan culture, suggests that musicals, when executed with scale and sincerity, remain among Hollywood’s most potent hybrid genres.

Executives at rival studios privately noted that Wicked’s success may be a wake-up call: audiences don’t just want spectacle — they want catharsis.

The Power of Erivo, Grande, and a Generation-Defining Cast

Much of the film’s box-office triumph belongs to its leads. Cynthia Erivo’s towering performance as Elphaba has already been called “Oscar-level intensity,” while Ariana Grande’s Glinda continues to surprise skeptics with a portrayal balancing fragility, ambition, and warmth. Their chemistry — tested, fractured, and ultimately repaired — is the beating heart of both the musical and the film.

Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero has emerged as a standout, bringing layered vulnerability to a character long overshadowed in stage productions. Michelle Yeoh’s Madame Morrible remains a chilling study of manipulation, while Jeff Goldblum’s Wizard, expanded in this film, provides an unexpectedly haunting final act confrontation.

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But it’s the supporting cast — Ethan Slater’s Boq, Marissa Bode’s Nessarose, Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James as Glinda’s loyal assistants — who flesh out the emotional grid of Oz, grounding its magical stakes in human consequence.

Marketing: A Modern Masterclass

Universal’s campaign for Wicked: For Good has been a case study in how to merge Broadway fandom with blockbuster storytelling.

TikTok challenges built on the score drove unprecedented engagement.
Daily countdown clips focused not on spectacle but on character arcs.
A curated rollout of original songs created a cultural drip-feed effect.
The London premiere went viral thanks to Erivo and Grande’s emotional reunion.

Universal leaned into meme culture, stan culture, fashion culture, and high-cinema positioning simultaneously — a nearly impossible balance that paid off.

The Road Ahead

Cynthia Erivo (Left) And Ariana Grande In 'Wicked: For Good.' - **Photo By Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures**

If Wicked: For Good follows the trajectory of its predecessor, the film could clear $500 million worldwide, giving Universal two back-to-back musical blockbusters in consecutive years — a rarity in modern Hollywood. Theater chains are expanding premium screenings through Thanksgiving week, and analysts predict minimal second-week dropoff due to fan repeat viewings and holiday family turnout.

More importantly, the film’s success signals something deeper: audiences are willing to invest in genuine emotional storytelling when it’s delivered with cinematic ambition and cultural reverence.

Wicked: For Good didn’t merely open — it reaffirmed that the cinematic musical, when created with heart and vision, can still be a global cultural event.