"Wicked" is once again making a big impact at the box office. Universal's musical sequel, "Wicked: For Good," has already made $30.8 million from previews, which is the biggest pre-opening total of the year so far. But there's one thing to note — usually, previews are only from Thursday showings, but Universal started showing the movie a few days earlier. Fan screenings on Monday, sponsored by Amazon Prime, made $6.1 million, and more showings on Wednesday brought in $6.5 million. On Thursday, the previews, which had double showings of "Wicked" and "For Good," made a total of $18.2 million.
The previous record for the highest Thursday preview gross was held by Warner Bros.' "Superman," which made $22.5 million before going on to earn $125 million in its opening weekend.
"Wicked: For Good," the much-anticipated final chapter of last year’s "Wicked," is expected to earn between $150 million and $180 million this weekend.
It could become the biggest box office opening of the year so far. Right now, the record belongs to Warner Bros.' "A Minecraft Movie," which made $10.6 million in Thursday previews and ended up with a $162 million opening. Universal, however, is being cautious and is predicting a $125 million opening this weekend, but fans are really excited after Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba became big names in pop culture last fall.
Last year, director Jon M. Chu’s original "Wicked" made $19.2 million from previews and ended up with $112.5 million in its opening weekend, also during the pre-Thanksgiving period.
This new movie wraps up the story of the "Wizard of Oz" prequel, with the same cast, including Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, and Bowen Yang. The first "Wicked" helped set last year’s Thanksgiving box office record at $420 million, along with "Gladiator II" and "Moana 2." Disney's family-friendly "Zootopia 2" is coming next week, and both "Zootopia 2" and "Wicked: For Good" hope to reach similar box office numbers during the holidays.
Other movies opening this weekend include Sony’s action sequel "Sisu: Road to Revenge," which is expected to make around $3 million and earned $575,000 from Thursday previews.
There's also Searchlight's "Rental Family," starring Brendan Fraser, which is also expected to open in the low single digits.
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