The musical sequel Wicked: For Good has cast a powerful spell at the box office even before its official release, delivering the strongest preview performance of the year 2025. The film has earned a spectacular $30.8 million from its early screenings, setting a new high for the year.
A Strategic Rollout for Maximum Impact
Universal, the studio behind the film, confirmed that this early box office total is the highest pre-opening figure of 2025. This impressive result was achieved through a strategic rollout that extended beyond the traditional Thursday-night previews. The studio orchestrated multiple early screening events to build momentum.
This strategy began with special fan events on Monday, sponsored by Amazon Prime, which successfully brought in $6.1 million. The excitement continued with additional screenings held on Wednesday, adding another $6.5 million to the total. The final push came from the traditional Thursday previews, which included double showings of both the first Wicked film and the new sequel, contributing a massive $18.2 million.
Challenging Box Office Benchmarks
This performance shatters the previous 2025 preview record, which was held by Warner Bros.' Superman. That film earned $22.5 million from its Thursday screenings before going on to a $125 million opening weekend. Now, Wicked: For Good is positioned to challenge several box office benchmarks during its debut.
Industry projections are highly optimistic, indicating a potential opening weekend between $150 million and $180 million. This puts it in direct contention for the title of the biggest launch of the year. That title is currently held by another Universal film, A Minecraft Movie, which generated $10.6 million in Thursday previews and opened to $162 million. Despite these bullish comparisons, Universal is maintaining a more cautious forecast of $125 million for the weekend.
The immense anticipation for the sequel follows the huge popularity of the first film, released in 2024. The characters of Glinda, played by Ariana Grande, and Elphaba, played by Cynthia Erivo, became widely referenced cultural icons. Director Jon M. Chu's 2024 Wicked earned $19.2 million in its previews and reached a $112.5 million opening weekend during the same pre-Thanksgiving period.
The new installment continues the story with a returning cast that includes Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, and Bowen Yang. Last year's Wicked was a major contributor to a record $420 million Thanksgiving box office, alongside other major releases like Gladiator II and Moana 2.
This weekend also sees the release of other films, including Sony's action sequel Sisu: Road to Revenge, which is projected to open with around $3 million, and Searchlight's Rental Family, starring Brendan Fraser, which is expected to debut in the low single digits.
