Evil broke a box office record during its world premiere. The new film, directed by Crazy rich Asians‘ Jon M. Chu, is an adaptation of the stage musical of the same name, which in turn is an adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s novel of the same name which is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz. It follows the early years of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) – the future Wicked Witch of the West – and Glinda (Ariana Grande-Butera). THE Evil The release comes 21 years after the original show debuted on Broadway, which launched a global musical phenomenon.
Put Varietyon Sunday morning, the global opening weekend of Evil is projected to reach a total of $164.2 million in 3 days. This comes off a domestic debut of $114 million and an international gross of $50.2 million. Not only has this total already exceeded the film’s reported budget of around $150 million, it is also by far the highest-grossing global debut of a Broadway adaptation, handily surpassing the 2012 film. Les Misérableswhich previously held the top spot with a $103 million worldwide opening weekend.
What does this mean for the wicked
Its theatrical run is unprecedented
This unprecedented global opening weekend shows that there may be no limit to the musical’s potential success. For one thing, it’s already on track to turn a profit in theaters. While films, especially those with marketing campaigns as robust as this particular release, typically need to earn at least two and a half times their theatrical price, the Evil budget likely puts its break-even point at around $375 million, a milestone that is on the way to cross without much difficulty.
Evil it could well exceed US$650 million at the end of its execution.
There’s almost no way to compare Evil for previous versions. The only musical films that debuted at this level are those from 2019 The Lion King and 2018 Beauty and the beast, both of which eventually raised over $1 billion worldwidebut it also had a powerful Disney nostalgia reinforcing it. The highest-grossing non-Disney original musical of all time so far was 2023 Wonkawhich raised US$625.4 million. Although it opened internationally a week earlier, its domestic opening combined with the original total only reaches US$82.2 million, indicating that Evil it could well exceed US$650 million at the end of its execution.
Our take on Wicked’s global premiere
The musical film has a bright future
For the new film to surpass Wonkaneeds to maintain the same kind of momentum it had in its global debut. Although one possible obstacle is the audience’s frustration in knowing that they are only adapting the first half of the musical for the stage, with Part Two scheduled to debut in 2025, so far Evil The reviews were excellent, earning the film a certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 90% with a verified audience score of 97%. Thus, word of mouth will likely be stellar, helping the film’s overall gross soar to untold heights.
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Source: Variety