The Box Office Success of Wicked and Wicked: For Good
Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz is a popular musical from Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman. Loosely based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel, itself an expansion of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900, premiered in 2003 and has enjoyed numerous successful runs around the world. Initial discussions about a feature film adaptation began in 2004, but development proved slow. Universal Pictures officially announced the project in 2016, with a December 2019 release date.
Several roadblocks prevented Wicked from reaching its target release date, namely the COVID-19 pandemic and the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild of America strikes in 2023. Despite these issues, several factors contributed to Wicked and its sequel, Wicked: For Good, becoming smash hits at the global box office.
To begin, Universal made the wise decision to curb production expenses by filming both projects at the same time. This decision also allowed the studio to release the films in proximity, rather than subjecting fans to a lengthy delay between installments. According to Variety, Universal spent $300 million producing the two movies and a combined $250 million in marketing, for a break-even point of approximately $550 million.
While a risky venture by some metrics, the studio knew that Wicked had remained a Broadway sensation over multiple decades for good reason. With this in mind, Universal brought Holzman back to pen the screenplay alongside Dana Fox, while Stephen Schwartz collaborated with John Powell on the film's music.
With critical input from the musical's creators in place, Universal looked into broadening the appeal of the motion picture adaptation by casting relevant stars. Notable performers in Wicked and Wicked: For Good include Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. A well-known British actress and musician, Erivo had already earned a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for her work on The Color Purple in 2017, along with a Daytime Emmy Award and an Oscar nomination.
Grande, meanwhile, was a Nickelodeon star at a young age, before developing into one of America's most prominent pop stars. Her records, singles, and features have sold approximately 160 million units around the world. Other notable casting decisions included Jeff Goldblum, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh, Johnathan Bailey, and Bowen Yang.
Wicked opened on November 22, 2024, with a wide release of 3,888 theaters in the United States. The film made $164million in its opening weekend, good for the top spot at the global box office. The film enjoyed a lengthy box office run that ended on March 13, by which point it had grossed $758 million, making it the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation in box office history. Universal's investment and planning more than paid off, with the first film generating more than $200 million in profit on production and marketing expenses for the two films, to say nothing of the movie's 10 Oscar nominations.
Wicked: For Good arrived in theaters nearly one year later to the day, opening on November 21, 2025. The film enjoyed an even bigger opening weekend than its predecessor, with a $223 million global opening. The film's release drove profits for Universal to more than $720 million across the two films.