The box office has been changed for good. Kind of.
Our number one movie–no shit–is Wicked: For Good, with a “three-day” opening of $150 million, except that’s not entirely true. In reality For Good’s opening weekend consisted of six days, with Prime Video screenings on Monday, PLF and 3D screenings on Wednesday, and Thursday “previews” which began at 2:00 PM. In total, all three “preview” days amounted to roughly $30 million of For Good’s winnings. Mind you, I’m not trying to shortchange Wicked’s obvious success this weekend. But part of me is wary over just how much “cheating” takes place in modern box office reporting post-COVID.
Okay, now that I’m done being grouchy (for the time being), what else is there to really say? Everyone and their flying monkey’s uncle knew Wicked: For Good was going to open to yellow-bricked gangbusters. The only question is how frontloaded its going to be. Critically, For Good didn’t fare as good as Wicked: Part One, with some reviews coming dangerously close to calling it boring. But that’s perhaps inevitable when you’re extending about an hour’s worth of a Broadway play into a two-hour plus big screen extravaganza, and those not familiar with the stage musical seem to be taken aback by how Dorothy is a prop here more than anything. Then again, none of that really matters. This sequel was made primarily for the fans, and that’s fine (just don’t expect it to win Best Picture at the Oscars this time, Variety).
For those keeping score, Wicked: For Good had the best premiere ever for a movie based on a Broadway musical, taking the record from…well, Wicked: Part One. Like the original, For Good scored an ‘A’ CinemaScore, and many have apparently already seen the film more than once. Next weekend, the much-anticipated Zootopia 2 finally opens. It will be interesting to see how the singing bisexual witches fare against it over the holidays.
We do have other new films this weekend, but c’mon. There’s not really much to talk about. Both Rental Family and Sisu: Road to Revenge scored much higher with critics than For Good, but neither of them ever stood a chance. They both opened to under $4 million. The hope is they get a boost over Thanksgiving, but really, that’s sadly unlikely. By the way, if you’re wondering how the heck we got a sequel to Sisu in the first place, it’s because the blood-soaked original played very well on streaming. Just not well enough, apparently.
Anyway, the top ten, via The Numbers
