Wicked dethrones Mamma Mia as the biggest global Broadway adaptation
Wicked has become the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation in global box office history, dethroning Mamma Mia.
Wicked, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, has generated $634 million in six weeks at the box office, while Mamma Mia, the 2008 Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried film, made $611 million by the end of its box office run, according to Variety.
The film earned $424 million in the United States and, weeks ago, surpassed John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John’s Grease ($188.62 million) as the biggest Broadway adaptation at the domestic box office. The film also had the biggest opening weekend for a film based on a Broadway musical, ahead of the global debut of Universal’s 2012 release Les Miserables, according to Universal.
Wicked is the first of two Universal Pictures films based on a Broadway prequel to The Wizard of Oz. The second film, Wicked: For Good, releases in 2025.
The first film stars Erivo as Elphaba Thropp and Grande as Galinda Upland, along with Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum. Set in the Land of Oz, before Dorothy’s arrival from Kansas, the film follows Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, and her friendship with her classmate Galinda, who becomes Glinda the Good.
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