The Emerald City is open for business again. Universal’s Wicked: For Good roared into theaters with an estimated 150 million dollars domestic opening, soaring past last year’s Wicked debut of 112.5 million dollars for a jump of about thirty-three percent. Globally, the sequel grossed $ 226 million in its first three days.
That puts Wicked: For Good at number thirty-one on the all-time domestic opening list and gives it a truly dominant share of the market. The film accounted for about 81% of the total box office of 185.5 million dollars for all titles this weekend.
Last year, the pre-Thanksgiving frame was powered by the one-two punch of Wicked and Paramount’s Gladiator II, which together brought in $ 202.4 million. The fact that For Good nearly matched that total on its own is precisely the kind of result exhibitors have been desperate for.
Next up, the holiday corridor gets even more crowded with the arrival of Disney’s Zootopia 2 on Wednesday. It slides into the same slot that Moana 2 held last year, when that film generated a five-day total of $ 225.4 million. Thanksgiving weekend 2024 set a holiday record with 276.8 million dollars in ticket sales. Even with a strong launch from Wicked: For Good and solid expectations for Zootopia 2, this ten-day stretch may fall short of that record, but could still land at around 90% of last year’s haul.
Looking a bit further ahead, the final swing factor for whether 2025 can reach $9 billion domestically is Avatar: Fire and Ash. Advance ticket sales for the third AVATAR began last Monday, with strong early demand for premium 3D and large-format showtimes. With one month to go and most moviegoers still focused on Thanksgiving, that early interest is a promising sign.
First Place: Wicked: For Good
Wicked: For Good is the second chapter in Universal’s two-film adaptation of the smash Broadway musical, itself inspired by the characters from The Wizard of Oz.
The sequel does exactly what the studio needed. It keeps the momentum of last year’s hit while riding an aggressive Comcast-wide marketing push that combined Universal’s traditional studio campaign with heavy exposure across NBC platforms. Story-wise, For Good pays off the major plotlines set up in the first film and the stage show.
The road to the screen has been long. Producer Marc Platt first partnered with Universal on the stage rights even before the musical opened, then secured the film rights to Gregory Maguire’s novel The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West in 2001. The project did not receive an official greenlight until 2016 and stalled again until Jon M Chu came aboard in 2021.
On April 26, 2022, Chu announced that the story would be split into two films, shot back to back. As he put it, compressing the entire show into one feature risked doing “real damage” to the material. Every attempt to cut songs or reduce characters felt like a fatal compromise. The Broadway version runs about two hours and thirty minutes. Together, Chu’s two films run just over five hours.
Principal photography on both parts began in June 2023 and wrapped thirteen months later at Sky Studios Elstree outside London. On December 16, 2024, the second film received its title, Wicked For Good, a direct nod to the number “For Good” from the stage show.
Because the films were shot consecutively, the creative continuity is rock solid, starting with the cast. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo anchor the story as Glinda Upland and Elphaba Thropp. Jeff Goldblum leans fully into his take on the Wizard, while Michelle Yeoh brings steel and elegance to Madame Morrible.
Chu also pushed hard for a practical scale. Rather than rely entirely on digital environments, he insisted on building huge, tangible sets. The Emerald City built at Elstree was reportedly the largest in the studio’s history, which is saying something for a facility that has hosted Star Wars and Indiana Jones.
Streets, markets, villages, forests, and multi-level interiors allowed for ambitious choreography and camera work, with some musical numbers supporting hundreds of performers at once. The production team even went so far as to install and maintain massive amounts of live greenery, including millions of tulip bulbs over the course of the shoot.
The first film, released November 22, 2024, took in 474.6 million dollars domestically and 758.9 million dollars worldwide. It earned ten Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and won for Costume Design and Production Design.
With both films carrying budgets of about 150 million dollars each, Universal needed approximately 375 million dollars in combined worldwide box office per film to turn a profit. The first easily cleared that bar, and For Good, after a 150 million dollar opening frame, is on track to reach that threshold within its first week.
Critics have been somewhat cooler on the sequel. For Good currently sits at about 71 percent with critics, compared with around 85 percent for the first film, while audiences continue to be enthusiastic, giving both entries about 95 percent.
A sampling of critical reaction:
- The Hollywood Reporter notes that early doubts about splitting the story into two films are “not exactly erased” by the second part, but concludes that the global fan base will hardly complain.
- RogerEbert.com praises the technical world-building and reassures fans that the darker tone does not mean an absence of wonder in Oz.
- Variety highlights the expanded dynamic between Elphaba and Glinda, calling the final stretch a more complete story in its own right.
- The Film Verdict is more skeptical, suggesting that devoted fans will enjoy one more trip down the yellow brick road, while others may feel ready to say goodbye.
The key question now is stamina. The first Wicked dropped a very mild 28% in its second weekend and was still playing on more than 3,000 domestic screens on Christmas Day. If FOR GOOD can sustain anything close to that footprint and pace, a one-billion-dollar global total is within reach.
Second Place: Now You See Me: Now You Don’t
Lionsgate’s Now You See Me: Now You Don’t slipped to second place in its second weekend with 9.1 million dollars, a fifty-seven percent slide from opening. After 10 days, the latest magician heist entry has earned $ 36.8 million domestically and $ 146.2 million worldwide.
That performance tracks close to Now You See Me 2, though it still lags behind the original film. As with the earlier entries, the franchise remains much stronger overseas, with about three-quarters of grosses coming from international markets. In a year when many Hollywood titles have struggled abroad, that is an encouraging sign for the series’ long-term health.
Third Place: Predator Badlands
In its third weekend, Disney and 20th Century’s Predator: Badlands landed in third with 6.3 million dollars, off about fifty-one percent. After seventeen days, the film has taken in 76.3 million dollars domestic and 159.6 million dollars worldwide.
Badlands is now poised to become the top-grossing title in the Predator series in raw dollars, excluding the Alien crossover entries. Adjusted for inflation, it will still fall short of the original 1987 film, which would equal roughly $ 281 million domestically in today’s terms.
With an estimated production cost of around 105 million dollars, Badlands would need roughly 263 million dollars worldwide to be considered profitable. Current trajectories suggest a finish closer to 180 million dollars, which may mark the end of standalone Predator outings for now.
Fourth Place: The Running Man
Paramount’s The Running Man dropped from second to fourth place in weekend two, pulling in 5.8 million dollars, a sharp sixty-five percent decline. That brings its ten-day domestic total to 27 million dollars, with 48.3 million dollars worldwide.
Pre-release chatter had some analysts penciling in a domestic total north of 100 million dollars for the Glen Powell and Edgar Wright collaboration, based on the Stephen King source material and the star’s current heat.
Instead, a November 7 date dropped it straight into a crowded marketplace. Losing the opening weekend to Now You See Me: Now You Don’t and then getting overwhelmed by Wicked: For Good has significantly dimmed its box office outlook. A quieter frame in mid-December might have given the film more room to breathe.
Fifth Place: Rental Family
Searchlight’s Rental Family opened in fifth place with 3.5 million dollars from 1,925 locations.
The film centers on Daniel, an aging American actor in Tokyo, played by Brendan Fraser in his first feature role since winning the Oscar for The Whale. Daniel’s stalled career and isolation lead him to a surprising job at a “rental family” agency that provides performers to play spouses, parents, coworkers, or friends for clients who need emotional or social support. As he takes on roles for various customers and grows close to fellow performer Aiko and agency owner Shinji, Daniel is forced to confront what it means to play connection rather than actually have it.
Though the premise may sound fictional, the story is inspired by real Japanese “rental family” businesses that emerged in the nineteen nineties. Some companies employ small core staffs and maintain databases of hundreds of freelance actors, with contracts ranging from casual appearances to long-running arrangements.
Directed by Hikari, who broke out with the 2023 series Beef, Rental Family blends English and Japanese dialogue. Fraser’s character is the only non-Japanese speaker at the agency, reinforcing his “outsider” status both culturally and professionally. The actor reportedly spent weeks in Tokyo learning the language and acclimating before cameras rolled.
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September to strong notices and currently sits at about 87% with critics and mid-to-high nineties with audiences. Many reviewers praise it as a gentle, humane character study and a quietly affecting look at loneliness and manufactured intimacy. Detractors argue that the narrative stays a little too sentimental and does not fully explore the darker implications of the premise.
With an estimated $20 million budget, Rental Family will likely need to reach around $50 million worldwide to turn a profit. As a comparison point, many have mentioned Lost in Translation, another Tokyo-set story about cultural dislocation and unlikely connection, though Rental Family leans more directly into the ethics and economics of paid relationships.
| Rank | Film | Distributor | Weekend Gross | % Change | Locations | Per-Theatre Avg. | Total-To-Date | Weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wicked: For Good (PG) | Universal | $150,000,000 | – | 4,115 | $36,452 | $150,000,000 | 1 |
| 2 | Now You See Me: Now You Don’t (PG-13) | Lionsgate | $9,120,000 | -57% | 3,403 | $2,680 | $36,829,000 | 2 |
| 3 | Predator: Badlands (PG-13) | 20th Century | $6,250,000 | -51% | 3,100 | $2,016 | $76,284,737 | 3 |
| 4 | The Running Man (R) | Paramount | $5,800,000 | -65% | 3,534 | $1,641 | $27,048,000 | 2 |
| 5 | Rental Family (PG) | Searchlight | $3,300,000 | – | 1,925 | $1,714 | $3,300,000 | 1 |
| 6 | Sisu: Road to Revenge (R) | Sony | $2,600,000 | – | 2,222 | $1,170 | $2,600,000 | 1 |
| 7 | Regretting You (PG-13) | Paramount | $1,520,000 | -59% | 1,754 | $867 | $47,258,000 | 5 |
| 8 | Nuremberg (PG-13) | Sony Classics | $1,234,302 | -49% | 1,010 | $1,222 | $11,013,967 | 3 |
| 9 | Black Phone 2 (R) | Universal | $1,000,000 | -62% | 1,227 | $815 | $76,389,000 | 6 |
| 10 | Sarah’s Oil (PG) | Amazon MGM | $771,542 | -66% | 1,347 | $573 | $10,352,000 | 3 |
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