As Wicked Nears $700 Million Worldwide, The Movie Has Also Been Crushing It In A Surprising Way

Last year’s blockbuster hit, “Wicked,” is poised to dominate cinema screens through 2025, with its next installment, “Wicked: For Good,” slated for release in November. As the film captivates audiences worldwide, the musical version has just made a splash in a new format – at home.

Wicked Just Broke A Big Record For On-Demand Movie Releases

Universal chose to debut “Wicked” on Premium Video On Demand (PVOD) on New Year’s Eve, just two months after its successful theatrical premiere alongside “Gladiator II,” affectionately called “Wickediator.” Since then, movie enthusiasts have been able to purchase or rent the film for $30 and $20 respectively on digital platforms. In this past week alone, “Wicked” has set records with its highest single day sales and first-week earnings for a PVOD release.

On New Year’s Eve, the musical raked in an impressive $26 million, suggesting that approximately $10 million households chose to end their year with this film. In the U.S. and Canada, total sales surpassed $70 million. Following its previous achievement as the highest-grossing movie based on a Broadway musical, this movie has now set another impressive record.

According to the report, the movie that beat out 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie in PVOD sales was Wicked. Remarkably, Wicked earned double the amount of its competitor within the same time frame. Unlike traditional films that would wait 90 days before becoming available for home viewing, Wicked was made accessible earlier due to a deal Universal Pictures made with theaters in 2020 regarding PVOD releases. Normally, Universal waits 35 days, but Wicked was released on PVOD 39 days after its theatrical debut, timing it for New Year’s Eve and the Rose Parade float, which you can watch below.

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Year after year, millions gather around to watch the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day, and undeniably, the spectacular floats contribute significantly to spreading the news, while the movie generates an overwhelming positive response as well.

PVOD Didn’t Slow Down Wicked In Theaters Much

Despite the option to watch “Wicked” at home, many people still chose to go to the theater to catch the movie. In the first weekend of the new year, “Wicked” earned an extra $10 million in box office sales and continued to rank among the top five films (alongside “Mufasa”, “Sonic the Hedgehog 3”, “Nosferatu”, and “Moana 2”). Throughout its cinema run, “Wicked” has grossed a total of $683 million worldwide, placing it as the #6 highest-grossing film of 2024 globally and #3 at the domestic box office, trailing only “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine”.

Wicked proved unbeatable at the box office, contributing significantly to the film industry’s record-breaking earnings of $30 billion in 2021, according to Variety. You can either rent or purchase Wicked on Amazon right now.

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2025-01-10 04:37