\n<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Witches of Oz are making magic at the box office.<\/p>\n
\n\tUniversal\u2019s Thanksgiving tentpole\u00a0Wicked: For Good<\/em>\u00a0is now on course to open to a record-shattering $151 million-plus in North America and $228 million worldwide after topping Friday\u2019s North American with a massive $68.7 million from 4,115 theaters (that number includes $30.8 million in previews). Audiences are more than embracing the pic, giving it an A CinemaScore and a glowing 96 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.<\/p>\n \n\tWicked: For Good<\/em>\u00a0is the second title in filmmaker\u00a0Jon M. Chu\u2018s ambitious\u00a0big-screen adaptation\u00a0of the iconic Broadway musical and book about the untold story of the witches of Oz.\u00a0Ariana Grande\u00a0stars as Glinda the Good Witch and\u00a0Cynthia Erivo\u00a0as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.<\/p>\n \n\tIf it hits its target, the female-fueled movie would boast the biggest start ever for a Broadway musical adaptation; as of now, last year\u2019s Wicked<\/em> is the record-holder ($112.5 million), not adjusted for inflation. It would also be the second-biggest opening ever for a Universal title behind Jurassic World<\/em> ($208.8 million); the second-best opening for the weekend before Thanksgiving behind\u00a0The Hunger Games: Catching Fire<\/em>; the third biggest opening of all time for any musical behind 2019\u2019s\u00a0The Lion King\u00a0<\/em>and 2017\u2019s\u00a0Beauty and the Beast<\/em>; and the second-biggest opening of 2025 to date behind A Minecraft Movie<\/em> ($208.9 million).<\/p>\n \n\tThe biggest global opening for a Broadway musical adaptation of all-time ahead of\u00a0Wicked<\/p>\n \n\tWicked: For Good<\/em>\u00a0is a needed jolt for the struggling\u00a0box office, which has suffered the worst fall in decades due to a glut of male-skewing pics and a lack of product for females and families. The movie\u2019s better-than-expected opening more than proves the buying power of girls and women; nearly 70 percent of Friday\u2019s audience were females.<\/p>\n \n\tOn the same weekend a year ago,\u00a0the first\u00a0Wicked<\/em>\u00a0made history\u00a0when it debuted to a record-breaking $112.5 million in its three-day debut, the best showing ever for a musical adaptation. It ultimately topped out at nearly $750 million worldwide, the best-ever showing for a Broadway musical adaptation, a genre that has been a tough nut for Hollywood to crack. NBCU entertainment chief and longtime movie studio head Donna Langley has remained intent on cracking that nut \u2014 and has done just that.<\/p>\n \n\tMore to come<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Witches of Oz are making magic at the box office. Universal\u2019s Thanksgiving tentpole\u00a0Wicked: For Good\u00a0is now on course to open to a record-shattering $151 million-plus in North America and $228 million worldwide after topping Friday\u2019s North American with a massive $68.7 million from 4,115 theaters (that number includes $30.8 million in previews). Audiences are<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[1547,1305,2894,19694,12844],"class_list":{"0":"post-34737","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-good","9":"tag-million","10":"tag-opening","11":"tag-recordsmashing","12":"tag-wicked"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}