Wicked part 2 has a historic launch at the US box office

While Running Man still hasn’t taken off and is heading for disaster.

A stroke of magic on American cinema after a gloomy autumn: Wicked 2 is having an epic launch at the US box office, with a total of $150 million over three days across the Atlantic.

This is quite simply the second best opening of the year 2025, just behind Minecraft and its 162 million and just ahead Lilo & Stitch in live action (146 million).

The sequel, directed by Jon M. Chu, is riding high on good reviews and, above all, excellent feedback from the American public, very fans of the original musical.

As a reminder, Wicked 2 made stronger than Wicked which opened to $112.5 million in 2024 and ended its career at $475 million in North America (and 760 million worldwide). An impressive score that Wicked 2 will also reach a priori.

A major success for Universal. And the studio can rub its hands: in the world, Wicked 2 already has almost $230 million in revenue. A historic record since it is the biggest global start of all time, for a Broadway musical adaptation, and the 5th best global start for a musical of all time.

All the lights are green for Elphaba.

And the competition suffers. Elusive 3 logically gave up its first place and finds itself in second position. But Now You See Me: Now You Don’t saw its revenue fall by $9.6 million in 3,403 theaters this weekend, a drop of 55%. The US total reaches $37 million after 2 weeks. Compare to the two previous parts: the first finished around $117 million and the second at $65 million at the US box office. The third act of The Magicians should end somewhere between the two.

Predator: Badlands continues its quest in 3,100 theaters, and records a weekend of $6.5 million (-51%), for a cumulative total of $76 million in the third week. The franchise is maintained, even if the decline is clear and regular.

Above all, the one who suffers from the good launch of Wicked 2it’s the blockbuster Running Man. It was a disaster in the second week for Glen Powell, who already fell from the podium, in 4th position. The action film, despite being supported by a big promotion, is seriously struggling to advance, with $6 million (-64%) from 3,534 theaters and a total of $27.2 million only after 2 weeks. The recipe falls apart and clearly shows that the hype initial did not take. The overall box office does not exceed 35 million at present. Much too low compared to its budget of $110 million.