Hugely anticipated adaptation of the Broadway hit starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo is estimated to rake in $200m at the global box office

What is this feeling? After years of speculation, more casting rumors than Oz’s population of flying monkeys, a production ripe for tabloid fodder, and a massive marketing and promotion machine worthy of a wizard himself, Universal’s epic musical Wicked has finally walked the yellow brick road that leads into theaters.

On Thursday night the first official screenings unfolded around the US, including at New York City’s AMC Empire 25, the multilevel cathedral to cinema just off Times Square. It proved to be perfect moviegoing weather outside: absolutely miserable with hard, cold rain. Inside, there was a palpable energy with superfans lining up for one of the theater’s whopping 32 screenings of the film to handle demand, with box office tracking estimating the movie will “win over the world” with a massive global opening set to hit around $200m (the film made over $19m in US previews last night, not far off Barbie’s $22m in 2023).