Wicked: For Good box office revealed as sequel scores one of 2025's biggest box office debuts

Following the mammoth success of the first film last year – combined with some mega pre-sale figures this time around – Wicked: For Good always looked like being another major box office hit, and so it has proved.

Despite faring a little less well with critics this time around (the Rotten Tomatoes score currently sits at 70 per cent compared to 88 per cent for Part One), Jon M Chu's film has once again drawn the public to cinemas in droves, launching with a gross of $226 million in its opening weekend (split between $150 million in the US and $76 million in other territories).

Interestingly, that's significantly higher than the total of $164.2 million made by the first film in its opening weekend, meaning that For Good has now comfortably overtaken its predecessors' record as the biggest launch of a Broadway film adaptation in Hollywood history.

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It also sees the film become the fourth biggest-opening movie of the year at the global box office, with only Lilo & Stitch ($341 million), Jurassic World Rebirth ($322 million) and A Minecraft Movie ($313 million) grossing higher.

That means it ranks ahead of both of the summer's major superhero blockbusters, DC's Superman ($220 million) and Marvel's The Fantastic Four ($218 million) – another impressive feat that adds further evidence to the theory that the superhero genre is no longer the box office behemoth it once was.

Of course, the film is based on the second act of the hugely popular stage musical, with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande reprising their roles as Elphaba and Glinda and the action coinciding with the events of the Wizard of Oz.

Following the release, both Erivo and Grande – who were Oscar-nominated for their roles in the first film and could well feature on the awards circuit again this year – shared emotional goodbyes to their characters on social media.

"I could write you an essay, a poem, Shakespearean prose, to describe what this journey has meant to me, what lessons this time has taught me, bought me," Erivo wrote in a lengthy caption to a post on her Instagram page, which she signed off: "Thank you for letting me be your Elphaba."

Meanwhile, Grande wrote: "Thank you, my sweet Glinda, for everything. I will love you always ... Wicked For Good is out now."

Wicked: For Good is currently showing in UK cinemas.

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