Wicked, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, is expected to earn $117 million, domestically, in its opening weekend.
Globally, the movie may earn as much as $165 million at the pre-Thanksgiving box office.
The staggering amount will earn the movie the title of ‘the biggest opening weekend for a film based on a Broadway adaption,’ according to Deadline.
Previously, Into the Woods, released in 2014, held the record after earning $31 million in its opening weekend.
If it lives up to expectations, Wicked will also cement its place as the third-biggest opening of 2024 to date.
Per The Wrap, Wicked earned ‘$27.7 million grossed on Friday from 3,888 theaters.’
According to earlier reports, Amazon Prime screenings of the musical adaptation on November 18 generated $2.5 million at 750 theaters across the country.
Advanced screenings on November 20 grossed another $5.7million in the US and Canada.
Following Wicked’s release into cinemas on Thursday, the movie – which is an adaptation of the Broadway Musical – went on to gross a further $11million.
The huge numbers come in the wake of an emotional promotional tour by Ariana, 31, and Cynthia, 37, with both actresses breaking down in tears in multiple interviews.
‘We’ve cried 500 times today. And honestly, this is a PSA. So sorry guys,’ Everyday singer Ariana told E! News earlier this month.
‘It is what it is,’ her British-born co-star Cynthia added. ‘There’s just nothing we can do about it.’
On Friday, Cynthia explained why she and Ariana have broken down in tears on so many occasions while promoting the film.
Speaking on the Heart Breakfast show, Amanda Holden told Cynthia: ‘Every interview I’ve read Cynthia of you and Ariana, it just says that you end up in tears all the time.’
Cynthia replied: ‘We do!
‘And I think it’s because people have come in with such energy and they come in, their responses, their emotional responses come into the room with us, it’s the first time we’ve been able to talk about it, so we’re both reliving and rehashing all the things we’ve been through and the journey we’ve been on.
‘We can’t help it. We get very emotional about it.’
Amanda added: ‘Yeah, I don’t blame you.
‘You went through Covid, you went through strikes, there was all kind of obstacles to overcome to make this movie.’
For some fans though, the tear-jerking moments have been a little too much.
‘Does anyone else find it bizarre that the press tour of Wicked just seems to be the actresses bawling crying all the time,’ one wrote on X.
‘Literally the only press videos from Wicked I’ve seen are of these two crying,’ another added.
Echoing a similar sentiment, a third said: ‘Genuinely what is going on with this Wicked press tour, like are these girls okay????? They’re always bawling their eyes out.’
The filming of the 2024 film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked took about a year, with principal photography starting in December 2022 in England.
The shoot was paused in July 2023 due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, only to pick back up after the winter holidays of that same year and eventually conclude in January 2024.
Director Jon M. Chu decided to film the adaptation in two separate movies, so that means the cast and crew will be doing all the promotional interviews all over again this time next year.
Wicked is the origin story of ‘a green-skinned woman who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West’ and serves as a prequel to The Wizard Of Oz, exploring the narrative before Dorothy’s arrival and delving into the former friendship between the characters Elphaba and Glinda.
Critics’ reviews for Wicked have already poured in and for the most part they have applauded the leading stars’ performances.
The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw described it as a ‘sugar-rush fantasy with the overpowering star presence of Cynthia Erivo; it basically dunks you face-down in a hyperreal ball pit of M&Ms for two and three-quarter hours.’
Praising Cynthia’s performance he added: ‘Erivo’s charismatic Elphaba exerting a planetary pull over a star-studded cast’.
The Daily Mail’s Brian Viner wrote: ‘It’s a fabulous spectacle, which demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible.’
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