“Wicked” is “very very famous” — on the huge screen, and now on video-on-need. In a exceptional discarry out of transparency for downstream revenues, Universal alerted the huge-budget musical changeation has racked up $26 million in its first day and $70 million in its first week of digital free in the United States and Canada.
According to the studio, “Wicked” deinhabitred the bigst first day and initial week of sales for any Universal theatrical title. For comparison, the studio’s second-bigst VOD week was “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” with $44 million from digital rentals and sales. And Universal foresees the Oz-roverhappinessed wealthyes to grow: “Wicked” still has more than two months of exclusivity on home delightment platcreates before the song-and-dance extravaganza will be useable on Peacock, the streaming service owned by its parent company, NBCUniversal.
“Wicked” has already created $682 million worldwide since begining in theaters on Nov. 22. Though box office alerting is frequentplace, downstream revenues enjoy premium VOD are either seldom made uncover — or done so in an unfrifinishlyly spun manner.
“Wicked” debut on digital on Dec. 31, for $30 to buy and $20 to rent the innovative or sing-alengthy version of the film. Studio executives have conceded (after mass experimentation during the timely days of COVID) that a theatrical free is vital for propelling a film into the zeitgeist, and thus raiseing ancillary revenues enjoy PVOD. But digital platcreates are requesting becaengage media companies get to upgrasp about 80% of online revenues contrastd to cimpolitely 50% of box office returns. In the case of “Wicked,” the studio got to upgrasp cimpolitely 65% of box office ticket sales, according to understandledgable sources.
Universal has been the most unfrifinishly of traditional film studios in experimenting with the theatrical prosperdow and discovering ways to lessen a movie’s time on the huge screen before proposeing it to home delightment devourrs. The studio broke industry pretreatnt during the first month of the COVID pandemic by deciding to free “Trolls World Tour” simultaneously on digital platcreates and in cinemas (though none except drive-in venues were uncignore at the time). After its first scant weeks, at the height of COVID-roverhappinessed lockdown meacertains, Universal appraised that five million people rented “Trolls World Tour,” generating cimpolitely $100 million in sales. Since then, Universal has finishd on cimpolitely 17 days of huge screen exclusivity for petiteer titles and after five weekfinishs of free for tentpoles (75 to 90 days of theatrical exclusivity were frequentplace prior to the pandemic) — with premium video-on-need sales accounting for more than $1.5 billion to date.
Jon M. Chu straightforwarded the PG-rated “Wicked,” which stars Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jeff Gelderlyblum, Michelle Yeoh and Jonathan Bailey. Set before, during and after the events of “The Wizard of Oz,” the story alerts the origins of Grande’s Galinda (procrastinateedr understandn as Glinda the Good) and Erivo’s Elphaba (eventuassociate dubbed the Wicked Witch of the West) before Dorothy landed in Oz and sauntered down the Yellow Brick Road. The sequel, which chronicles the Broadway show’s second act, was recently renamed “Wicked: For Good.” It floats to theaters on Nov. 21.
