For Good rises to $150 million on domestic opening

worldwide “Wicked: For Good” defied gravity at the box office, generating an estimated $150 million in domestic ticket sales.

It marks the second-highest opening weekend for a film released in 2025, just behind it Warner Bros. “A Minecraft” grossed $163 million in April. It also outpaces last year’s debut of “Wicked,” which grossed $112.5 million in the U.S. and Canada.

The film’s tally holds the record for the biggest opening weekend for a Broadway play. With additional ticket sales from international markets, “Wicked: For Good” is set to reach $226 million in global revenue in its first three days in theaters.

An estimated 10 million tickets were sold for “Wicked: For Good” during its opening weekend, surpassing the 8 million tickets sold during last year’s “Wicked” opening, according to data from EntTelligence.

The box office data company also reported that 30% of domestic showings were in large theaters, compared to 18% for “Wicked.” These tickets are more expensive than general tickets and can help promote blockbuster releases. EntTelligence noted that the average general ticket price for “Wicked: For Good” is about $15.25 each, while the average premium screen ticket price is $18.75 apiece.

“The Universal team did a great job of perfectly following up on the success of the original film a year ago and parlaying that into even greater exposure for this second installment,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of market trends at Comscore. “Wicked: For Good will look forward to incredibly strong playability throughout Thanksgiving week and beyond during the all-important holiday movie season.”

Last year, the “punk” mix, Paramount “Gladiator II” and Disney “Moana 2” helped boost Thanksgiving weekend box office receipts to all-time highs. This year, “Wicked: For Good” joins Disney’s “Zootopia 2.”

The first “Zootopia” opened in 2016 to $75 million domestically, but has grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. Pent-up audience demand could push the film’s three-day opening to about $100 million and the five-day Thanksgiving period to $125 million.

“The expected and impressive overperformance of Wicked: For Good, along with other films on the market, could give last year’s record-breaking Thanksgiving a real run for its money,” Dergarabedian said. “This is great news after all the negative stories about October’s difficult box office led the story.”

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant will become the new parent company of CNBC based on Comcast’s planned spin-off of Versant.