Box Office: Wicked holds strong against Doraemon in Japan; Will Snow White steal its thunder?

Wicked remains strong at the Japanese box office against Doraemon, but with Snow White arriving this weekend, will the musical hold its ground or lose momentum?

Written by Seema Sinha , Entertainment Journalist

Published on Mar 19, 2025 | 12:15 PM IST | 2.2K

Picture Courtesy: Universal Pictures, Disney

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s Wicked has been holding strong at the Japanese box office since its debut in the market earlier this month alongside the domestic release Doraemon: Nobita’s Art World Tales. While the latter film grossed USD 420K on the second Tuesday, marking a 109.8 percent increase from last Tuesday and finally leaving Wicked behind in its daily earnings, the latter film lagged by not much, dropping only 18.3 percent from the same day last week and collecting USD 415K for itself.

The gap is minimal when we compare even the overall gross for the films yet. While Doraemon leads with a USD 10.2 million haul, Wicked has USD 9.2 million to show.

Tides for Wicked, however, could change this Friday when Snow White debuts in theaters. The Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot starrer is the remake of the iconic 1937 version and is an entry in the same musical genre as Wicked. The Disney offering has strong critical reviews favoring its arrival, with an anticipated global opening weekend of over USD 100 million. Japan's contribution to its tally will be worth watching.

A smart move on the Mouse House’s part is that they decided to roll out the production in all key markets at once, unlike Wicked, which expanded overseas in a staggered format. The film arrived in Japan months after its November 20 debut elsewhere.

For those uninitiated, the film follows Erivo’s Elphaba during her days in the school of wizardry in Oz, where she meets and forms an unusual friendship with Grande’s Galinda. While the former witch comes to be known as the Wicked Witch of the West in the future, Galinda becomes Glinda the Good.

Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Michelle Yeoh, Peter Dinklage, Jeff Goldblum, Marissa Bode, and more round out Wicked’s cast. The film's arrival in Japan after scoring ten Academy Award nominations and two wins boosted its appeal. Its current global gross stands at USD 700 million plus, with the second part of the story set for a November 2025 premiere.

While the film has performed favorably in Japan so far, it remains to be seen if it can sustain audience interest against Snow White. With spring break still in full effect, the next few days will determine the shifting dynamics of the Japanese box office.