“Wicked” broke three box office records in its opening weekend. Here’s how it compares to other blockbuster musicals.

• “Wicked” triumphed over “Gladiator II” at the box office this weekend following its international debut.

• It grossed $164 million, the biggest opening weekend for a film based on a Broadway show.

• Here’s a look at all the records Wicked has broken and how it compares to other blockbuster musicals.

“Wicked” broke three records this weekend with $164 million in ticket sales, surpassing its blockbuster competitor “Gladiator II.”

“Wicked” broke the record for the biggest opening weekend for a film based on a Broadway adaptation, both domestically and internationally. It beat previous record holders “Les Misérables” and “Into the Woods”.

The new movie musical also has the best opening for a non-sequel film this year. “Wicked” was the third-biggest domestic debut of 2024, trailing the two highest-grossing films that year: “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Inside Out 2.”

“Gladiator II,” which competed against “Wicked” due to the same U.S. release date, took second place on the box office charts this weekend, generating $106 million in ticket sales.

If “Wicked” continues to be successful, it could become the only film without a sequel in the list of the 12 highest-grossing films of 2024.

The success of the Broadway adaptation has earned the film a permanent place in the annals of Hollywood. Here’s how it compares to cinema’s biggest blockbuster musicals.

“Wicked” needs to make over a billion dollars to compete with the biggest movie musical

“Les Misérables,” the highest-grossing film based on a Broadway adaptation, grossed $442 million, but other non-Broadway musicals have grossed more.

The 2019 live-action remake of the musical “The Lion King” is the 10th-biggest film of all time, with $1.6 billion in ticket sales. “Frozen,” “Frozen II,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aladdin” have also grossed over a billion dollars.

All of these films except Frozen grossed between $200 million and $450 million in their debut weekend.

Rob Mitchell, director of theatrical insights at film industry research firm Gower Street Analytics, told Business Insider that he expects “Wicked” to surpass “Mamma Mia,” which sold $611 million in tickets worldwide, per Box Office MoJo. Mitchell doubted the Oz adaptation would reach the same heights as The Lion King.

He said the stage musical’s fan base, Ariana Grande’s star power and the cross-generational appeal of the Oz story were responsible for the film’s success.

“The main reason will simply be that it is an excellent production,” added Mitchell. “It’s the kind of big-screen spectacle that cinema was made for.”

“Moana 2” could pose a threat to “Wicked” this Thanksgiving

With the premiere of “Moana 2” this week, “Wicked” has a new competitor at the box office this Thanksgiving weekend.

Disney films took top spots in six of the last eight Thanksgiving box office weekends.

The first “Moana,” which was the top-grossing film over Thanksgiving weekend in 2016, has become a children’s classic. According to Box Office MoJo, the film grossed $643 million worldwide, making it one of the ten most successful music films.

Nielsen, a viewership measurement company, reported in January that Moana was the most-watched film on a streaming platform in the U.S. in 2023, with over 11.3 billion minutes streamed.

Since there are three very popular franchises in theaters, consumers will likely be split between them.

Regardless of the coming competition, Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst at Comscore, told Business Insider via email that the success of “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” was a “gift” to theaters after a difficult year marked by delays was characterized by the release and poor performance of the films.

“It set in motion the potential for a very revenue-generating month of December,” he said, adding that both films were well-positioned to have “long-term play on big screens.”

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