The box-office slump of recent weeks is gradually giving way to promising numbers. After Predator: Badlands injected morale into theaters with a higher-than-expected opening, all eyes are now on November’s biggest excitement: Wicked: For Good. Jon M. Chu’s sequel is making headlines not just for the year, but for its potential to dominate the entire 2025 box office.
The first film opened strongly last year with $112.5 million and went on to surpass $756 million worldwide, marking a huge success. The sequel was expected to open at similar levels; however, new projections are pushing those expectations much higher. Currently, For Good is tracking for a domestic opening between $160–190 million. These figures mean it will directly compete with 2025’s highest-opening giants—A Minecraft Movie, Lilo & Stitch, Superman, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. In fact, the musical even has a real chance of topping that list.
In this sequel, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) appear as two characters driven apart by the consequences of their choices. Elphaba lives in exile, branded as the Wicked Witch of the West, still fighting for Oz’s silenced Animals. Glinda, meanwhile, is swept along by the winds of the world she herself created, and only time will tell how their paths cross again. The Wizard, played by Jeff Goldblum, casts a much darker shadow this time around.
North American audiences, who made up 62% of the first film’s viewership, look set to remain the deciding factor for the sequel. Yet the time that has passed has also created a new audience who discovered the original through VOD and streaming. This means a significantly broader potential viewership for For Good. Just like the audience expansion between Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, the second film has a very high chance of surpassing the first.
The film’s advantages don’t end there. During its original run, Wicked closed its second weekend over Thanksgiving week with just a 28% drop. A similar calendar is in play this year as well. When all these factors are combined, it would surprise no one if Wicked: For Good reaches the $1 billion mark globally.
The final quarter of 2025 has been shaky at the box office; October in particular delivered the weakest October numbers since 1997. That’s why Wicked: For Good is not just a sequel—it’s practically a lifeline for theaters. And with strong competitors like The Running Man and Zootopia 2 (one of the year’s biggest family-film contenders) also arriving in November, a brighter period for cinemas is undoubtedly on the way.
Wicked: For Good opens in theaters on November 21, 2025. The return of the magic is only days away.
