/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25333634/openai_sora_screen.png "Artists say they leaked OpenAI’s Sora video model in protest")
Wicked has cast a spell over audiences and smashed several box office records in its opening weekend.
Proving very popular, the movie event of the year raked in an impressive $164.2 million worldwide, with $114 million in the US, and over $50 million internationally, with Wicked still to open in some countries.
Those figures give Wicked the biggest opening for a movie based on a Broadway show, beating the worldwide opening of Les Misérables ($103 million) back in 2012.
The movie has also claimed the strongest start to a non-sequel movie in 2024, and gives Ariana Grande the biggest US opening for a pop star, outperforming Lady Gaga’s A Star is Born and Harry Styles’ Don’t Worry Darling.
It has also become the biggest opening ever for director Jon M Chu, composer Stephen Schwartz and co-lead actor Cynthia Erivo.
The musical movie has also bewitched critics, with director Jon M Chu’s trip to Oz earning rave reviews across the board.
‘Wicked succeeds because of some unreproducible, lightning in a bottle convergences – of director, stars, craftspeople, and high-status material,’ enthuses Vanity Fair. ‘Chu uses every bell and whistle possible to turn the stage show into a movie epic,’ agrees Empire.
