Well, it looks like ‘Wicked’ mania has officially started. Fandango just announced that John M. Chu’s “Wicked: For Good” has officially become the best first-day ticket pre-seller of 2025.
The sequel is now sitting comfortably in Fandango’s top 10 best all-time first-day pre-sellers, alongside “Avengers: Endgame,” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” It’s shaping up to be the biggest opening weekend of the year. Some are projecting $135–$150M in its debut, thanks to early-access screenings and a fervent fanbase. Could it maybe hit the billion-dollar club?
Part of the film’s advantage is logistical genius. Both instalments were shot back-to-back, in late 2022, giving Universal a major budget win and allowing the finale to ride the hype of last year’s film. Chu explained that while shooting, it became clear they couldn’t compress the story into a single movie without doing “real damage” to the source material.
There are those who believe “Wicked: For Good” could contend for Oscars, including Best Picture—and that isn’t a total stretch, considering the first film received numerous nominations. The sequel, however, faces a tough challenge, as Act I of the stage show is generally considered stronger and more engaging. Of course, the original musical has been around for over two decades, so maybe Chu and his team have found a way to strengthen Act II and give it the impact it needs.
That said, it’s not surprising that “Wicked: For Good” will be 22 minutes shorter than its predecessor. The runtime for the sequel is 138 minutes. Much of the story was told in the first film, and now the creative team has had to expand the second half as best they could.
As for those Oscar prospects, nobody has actually seen “Wicked: For Good” yet, but that hasn’t stopped it from cracking the top five in Gold Derby’s Best Picture odds, where it currently sits at #5.
The film stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, with Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Jeff Goldblum, and Michelle Yeoh in supporting roles. It’s an adaptation of Holzman and Schwartz’s ultra-popular Broadway musical of the same name, which draws on characters from “The Wizard of Oz.”
“Wicked For Good” will be released on November 26, 2025.