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Before Moana 2 rains a monsoon of cash, Universal’s Wicked will not go quietly in the night. In fact, on Monday the musical starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande was grande indeed with a studio reported $15.8 million box office take.
That’s the best Monday ever for November, better than Frozen II ($12.7M on November 25, 2019), better than The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($12.3M, November 25, 2013), higher than Skyfall ($11.3M, November 12, 2012) and bigger than post-Covid’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($11.1M, November 14, 2022). Wicked‘s domestic total shoots up to $128.1M through four days.
Wicked‘s Monday was down 49% from Sunday’s $30.8M. Its three-day opening came in at $112.5M, the best by leaps and bounds for a movie based on a Broadway musical.
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Meanwhile, Paramount’s Gladiator II did $5.5M on Monday, off 59% from Sunday’s $13.6M, taking its four-day take to $60.6M.
The day’s haul for Wicked is promising as all eyes are on whether two female-leaning tentpoles can rise to the top in a competitive holiday period. Monday’s take for Wicked indicates that audiences are responding to that A CinemaScore word of mouth, and planning trips to the theater to get the best seats. The first media screening was held last night for Disney’s Moana 2 and was largely more kiddies than press; it was met with great applause, not just at the end but after the musical numbers by Emily Bear and Abigail Barlow. Moana 2 previews start tonight at 2 p.m. in what’s expected to be a record $125M-$135M Thanksgiving five-day opening.
As far as Disney previews go, the best ever was Incredibles 2 with $18.5M. This past summer, Inside Out 2 racked up $13M. Keep in mind those were for a Thursday. The original Moana posted $2.6M in Tuesday night previews before its Thanksgiving five-day of $82M.
The box office bounce Monday comes from close to half of K-12 schools in the nation being on holiday break, plus another 20% off per Comscore. All titles in release made north of $27M, so expect an even bigger Tuesday with Moana 2 coming into the mix, but also the number of K-12 schools off rising to 83% and colleges to 62% before Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday.