Broadway'sWickedTops Thanksgiving Weekend Grosses as Movie's Box Office Soars

Mar. 15, 2025

Wickedon Broadway is defying the box office!

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Wicked.which tells the origin story of Oz’s witches, has been playing at the Gershwin Theatre in New York City since its premiere in 2003 with starsIdina MenzelandKristen Chenowethas iconic characters Elphaba and Glinda.

Mary Kate Morrisesey and Alexandra Socha currently star as Elphaba and Glinda on stage. Other stars include Broadway legend Donna McKechnie (Madame Morrible), Brad Oscar (the Wizard), Jordan Litz (Fiyero), Jake Pedersen (Bow), Natalie Ortega (Nessarose) and William Youmans (Doctor Dillamond).

Kate Morrisey as Elphaba in ‘Wicked’ on Broadway.Joan Marcus

Joan Marcus

The movie, part one of atwo-part movie adaptation, earned $114 million from 3,888 theaters over its opening weekend, according toVarietyandThe Hollywood Reporter.The musical flick kept its momentum in week two despite falling into the No. 2 spot.Varietyreports that it grossed $81.1 million over the weekend and $118.2 million over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Ticket sales for the theater industry in New York City tends to increase during the holiday season, especially for commercialized works. In addition toWicked’s success,The Lion Kingwas the second-highest grossing show with $2.88 million andHamiltonin third place at $2.6 million.

In fact, the overall industry gross was up 23 percent from its previous week and reached a total of $46 million, an increase from 2023’s $34.5 million.

Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda in the ‘Wicked’ movie.Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures

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Broadway veteran Erivo — who won a Tony Award for Broadway’s 2015 revival ofThe Color Purple, a Grammy for its cast recording and an Emmy for a live performance from the musical onToday— recently spoke aboutsinging live and performing her own stuntsin theWickedmovie during a post-screening discussion at the DGA Theatre in N.Y.C.

The two-time Oscar nominee explained that she put herself through “rigorous training” to “make sure that her body was prepared.”

“I had an amazing vocal coach who just helped me find the breath I needed in order to do it,” she explained. “Because usually if you’re singing something like that, that needs a lot of force, that needs a lot of sound. Usually you need the ground to push off of.”

Cynthia Erivo attends a conversation for “Wicked” at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Robin Williams Center on Dec. 02, 2024 in New York City.Michael Loccisano/Getty

Michael Loccisano/Getty

Ultimately, Erivo said, “I just did everything in my power that I could.”

“I endured whatever bruises and chafing and whatever it was necessary to. … I wanted to make sure that I could experience both what flight felt like and what it felt like to sing that song, in one. And I hope it was worth it.”

The movie musical’s cast also features Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Peter Dinklage, Bowen Yang and Marissa Bode.

Tickets forWickedon Broadwayare now on sale. TheWickedmovie is currently in theaters.

source: people.com