The musical fantasy, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo as witches Galinda and Elphaba, is based on the Broadway musical “Wicked,” which was loosely adapted from the novel “Wicked, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister.” It purports to tell the “real” story of what happened in Oz before Dorothy arrived.

Wicked” is pocketing lots of green, with the Universal release coming in on the upper side of projections to head toward the third-biggest domestic opening of the year. Now forecasting a $117 million sum for the weekend,

By Lisa Richwine LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -"Wicked," the first installment in a two-part movie adaptation of a beloved Broadway musical, generated $19.2 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales from early screenings this week,

Glicked weekend is currently looking like a $120M opening for Universal’s Wicked after a $48.5M Friday plus previews, while Gladiator II is shaping up to a $23.5M Friday/previews turning into a $61M opening weekend.

Just like “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” combined last year for the box office juggernaut of “Barbenheimer,” Universal’s musical “Wicked” and Paramount’s action epic “Gladiator II” will try to create “Glicked” this weekend.

The two tentpoles are kicking off what's expected to be the biggest Thanksgiving in history at the domestic box office, which welcomes 'Moana 2' on Wednesday.

Universal Pictures’ “Wicked” and Paramount Pictures’ “Gladiator II” are expected to post gravity-defying numbers at the domestic box office this weekend.

Between them, the two very different Thanksgiving tentpoles are capturing almost every adult demo, reminiscent of Barbenheimer.