Box Office: Wicked continues strong run in Japan, adding USD 510K to its growing theatrical total

Wicked led Japan’s box office with a USD 510K haul on Tuesday, while its global total of USD 733.7M keeps cementing it as the highest-grossing musical film adaptation ever.

Written by Seema Sinha , Entertainment Journalist

Published on Mar 12, 2025 | 05:21 PM IST | 9.1K

Picture Courtesy: Universal Pictures

Universal’s Wicked continues its strong box office performance in Japan after debuting in the country on March 7. The offering claimed the No. 1 spot in the Japanese market for the second consecutive day on Tuesday. The musical fantasy film starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo added USD 510K to its total with a modest 3.8% drop from Monday. Over five days, Wicked has amassed USD 4.5 million in Japan.

Comparatively, Doraemon: Nobita’s Art World Tales, the 44th installment in the long-running anime film franchise, fell to third place with an estimated USD 200K gross on Tuesday. Despite slipping in daily rankings, Doraemon still leads in total earnings, reaching USD 5.2 million in five days.

Directed by Jon M. Chu, Wicked: Part I is the first half of the two-part adaptation of the 2003 Tony-winning Broadway musical of the same name by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman. The saga is holistically inspired by Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, a reimagining of The Wizard of Oz. The film follows Elphaba Thropp (Erivo), the future Wicked Witch of the West, on her journey through the school of wizardry, where she forms a complex friendship with Galinda Upland (Grande), who becomes Glinda the Good.

The star-studded cast also includes Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum.

The aforementioned studio and producer Marc Platt, who also worked on the Broadway iteration of the tale, announced the adaptation in 2012, but multiple delays, including those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, pushed Wicked’s release to November 2024.

Since its debut, Wicked has achieved a massive box office haul, earning USD 473.2 million domestically and USD 260 million internationally, bringing its worldwide total to USD 733.7 million. This makes it the highest-grossing musical film adaptation to date.

Critically acclaimed, the film was named one of the best films of 2024 by the American Film Institute and won Best Film at the National Board of Review. It also received ten Academy Award nominations, winning Best Costume Design and Best Production Design prizes.

Wicked: Part Two, officially titled Wicked: For Good, arrives in theaters on November 21, 2025.