Wicked: For Good has stormed into the record books, planting its flag firmly among Hollywood’s titans with a colossal 30.8 million dollars in domestic preview earnings, securing the tenth spot in the all-time ranking. Yes, you read that right. The Broadway-born musical now stands shoulder to shoulder with cinematic giants like Avengers: Endgame, The Force Awakens, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Below is the full preview ranking:
The star power of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, coupled with fresh original music from Stephen Schwartz, has delivered a thunderclap of momentum. However, critics are divided; early reviews sit at 70 percent on Rotten Tomatoes compared to the original’s 88 percent score. Fans roared louder, gifting a 96 percent audience score.
Whether it ultimately dethrones Wicked’s towering 758 million-dollar lifetime global total remains the million-dollar question, but with a budget reportedly around 150 million dollars (per Variety), its break-even target of approximately 375 million now feels well within reach.
Wicked: For Good Reviews: What Critics Really Think About the Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo Sequel
Released worldwide on Friday, Wicked: For Good deep-dives into the fractured friendship between Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande). The first film dominated with its 758-million-dollar worldwide take and Academy Awards for costume and production design, but Wicked: For Good reshapes the musical universe with two brand-new songs created by Stephen Schwartz.
Hollywood Reporter critic David Rooney praised Grande as the shimmering emotional axis of the film, highlighting how the performance enriched Glinda’s complexity and transformed the film’s emotional core. Rooney described audiences at a press screening openly sobbing during the final harmonies of the title track.
Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri acknowledged director Chu’s more intimate approach, steering away from spectacle-heavy staging and leaning into tender emotional resonance. BBC’s Caryn James called For Good more enjoyable and engrossing than its predecessor for those already enchanted by the franchise.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press offered a starkly contrasting perspective, describing the film as visually overwhelming and more theatrical than cinematic, though crediting the cast for carrying its emotional weight.
As noted by FandomWire’s Cole Groth, the sequel “thrusts us back into this world with a remarkable sense of pacing that feels quick, but also a bit convoluted.” USA Today’s Brian Truitt dubbed it “all that and a pack of flying monkeys” and praised Jeff Goldblum’s bizarrely brilliant Wizard.
Ariana Grande Reveals COVID Diagnosis Amid Wicked: For Good Press Tour Chaos
Ariana Grande revealed via Instagram Stories that she tested positive for COVID-19, captioning her behind-the-scenes photo with “moments before COVID.” This news struck just as she concluded an exhausting global press tour alongside Erivo, which included a tense moment in Singapore where an aggressive fan breached security and rushed at Grande on the red carpet. Erivo instantly intervened, shielding her co-star alongside Michelle Yeoh.
Speaking on Today, Erivo explained:
I wasn’t really thinking. I just wanted to make sure my friend was safe. I’m sure he didn’t mean us harm, but you never know with those things, and I wanted to make sure that she was OK. That was my first instinct.”
The sequel arrives ahead of Thanksgiving weekend, with industry analysts predicting a record-shattering 120-million-plus domestic debut and over 200 million dollars worldwide, which would cement the strongest opening ever for a Broadway musical adaptation (per THR).
Wicked sequel deserves this monumental triumph, or is hype doing the heavy lifting? Who carried the emotional core better: Erivo or Grande? Comment below!
Wicked: For Good is now playing in theaters worldwide, released November 21. Streaming details are expected following its theatrical window. Stay tuned through FandomWire for updates.
