'Wicked' is a record-breaking hit. But it's not close to beating billion-dollar musical films like 'The Lion King' and 'Frozen.'
Giles Keyte / Universal Pictures
- "Wicked" is now the highest-grossing Broadway musical adaptation of all time.
- It beat "Mamma Mia!" which held the record for 16 years.
- Here are all the records "Wicked" has broken and how it compares to other blockbuster musicals.
"Wicked" has broken its third box office record, beating "Mamma Mia!" to become the highest-grossing film adaptation of a Broadway musical.
But it still has a way to go to surpass the highest-grossing musical films of all time, which have made over $1 billion in ticket sales.
In its opening weekend in November, "Wicked" made $164 million at the box office: the biggest opening weekend of a film based on a Broadway adaptation domestically and globally, trumping the previous record-holders "Les Misérables" and "Into the Woods."
By Sunday, it had grossed $634 million, beating the 16-year record set by "Mamma Mia!" which made $611 million in ticket sales.
"Wicked" was also the year's highest-grossing film that wasn't a sequel, the third highest-grossing film domestically — beaten only by "Deadpool & Wolverine" and "Inside Out 2" — and the sixth highest-grossing movie worldwide.
'Wicked' will need to make over a billion dollars to compete with the biggest movie musicals
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
"Wicked" was pitted against, and beat, "Gladiator II" at the box office, after the two films were released in the US on the same date. But Disney's "Moana 2" overtook both, grossing $882 million worldwide.
But the biggest rival of "Wicked" is the 2019 live-action remake of "The Lion King," which made $1.6 billion in ticket sales to become the 10th highest-grossing film of all time and the highest-grossing musical film ever. "Frozen," "Frozen II," "Beauty and the Beast," and "Aladdin" all grossed over a billion dollars in total, too.
All of these films, except "Frozen," which achieved less, grossed between $200 and $450 million in their debut weekend.
Rob Mitchell, the director of theatrical insights at film industry research firm Gower Street Analytics, told Business Insider in November after "Wicked" was released that he expected it to surpass "Mamma Mia" but doubted the Oz adaptation would reach the same heights as "The Lion King."
He said the fan base of the stage musical, Ariana Grande's star power, and the multi-generational appeal of the Oz story were behind the movie's success.
"The main reason will just be that it is a superb production," Mitchell added. "It's the type of big-screen spectacle that cinema was made for."