Wicked Movie

I am surprised that Wicked Part 1 has been demoted to minor screens at some multiplexes this week. I know the distribution deal for Moana 2 -- which is utter rubbish btw -- probably mandates that that has to go into the biggest screen on its opening week, but that appears to exclude the last show of the day. My local Odeon has decided to fill the second evening slot in its iSense screen with Gladiator 2 and a Telegu-language film this week. I can't imagine that either of those is doing as good business here as Wicked. Very strange.

I went over to Birmingham to see it instead, and pretty much every screening on Saturday was showing as sold out or limited.

They seem to have recognised this was a mistake because the newly released schedule has Wicked back in the main screen from Friday. Clearly doing great business.

I was questioning why the late evening slot across this week, unclaimed by Disney, was given to Gladiator 2 and Pushpa 2 - The Rule.

It doesn't feel padded at all. I was worried about the run time and incredibly cynical about the decision to break it into two films - I still think it will be an uphill struggle to make Act 2 anywhere near as engaging as Act 1. But they were right to give this film the breathing room it needed. Even if that means Part 1 is an excellent film and Part 2 is only so-so, I'm still glad they chose this rather than having to trim things away from Part 1.

I've been looking at box office analysis videos and one has brought up a glaring problem for Wicked which is the subject of this Deadline article

deadline.com/2024/11/wicked-marketing-record-advertiser-list-1236187221/

The movie's marketing team has spent $350 million in cross promotion with companies like lego, target e.g. All those wicked dolls, lego sets that Christmas tree in St Pancreas and so on you see everywhere cost them that much, more than "2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home ($220M), 2019’s Avengers: Endgame ($200M) and 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water ($170M)." Then add on the cost of prints and ads (i.e. posters) which the deadline article says was $150 million, you're looking at $500 million on marketing.

The movie's production budget was only $150 million and typically you add on 75% of that in marketing but they've ballooned the total budget to upwards of $650 million

And despite the media saying how Wicked is breaking records and so on, it's not doing as impressive as they say it is. And Moana 2 will now be eating into Wicked's box office as they both share the same audience. It's already making more international box office than Wicked.

I also think Erivo's comments on the fan poster, Grande's relationship with Ethan Slater and the incessant crying these two are doing on the press tours are putting some people off seeing this. We've had years of movie stars causing drama surrounding their movies on social media and so on that general audiences are taking note of these things.

Now commentators are saying that this movie should break even or make a little bit of money - but it could have made more.

Yes, the vast majority of the brand collaborations you’re seeing are not part of Wicked’s budget.

I work in brand marketing and collaborated with Warner Bros this time last year. We paid to work with them, they didn’t pay us but they did get a lot of exposure from the campaign we went live with (on our packages, social media, influencers etc.).

In the case of Barbie, I assume Mattel did a lot of the licensing to brands rather than WB.

I find it interesting how Universal had both Marks and Spencer and Primark as the Wicked clothing and beauty tie in in the UK, I'm guessing they know that they can appeal to customers with different spending levels.

Wicked's US total will more than make up for what is does overseas and that's not factoring in that it's doing gangbusters in many places.

Universal is likely thrilled with how Wicked is doing and it's likely Part 2 will make even more money.

The film has exceeded many people box office expectations, and it is still yet to open in big film markets like China, Japan and quite a few European countries.

With the first film being such a success, it bodes very well for the potential box office for part 2, which could be massive.

I think you're really overstating the impact of all of these things. The comments on the poster won't even be known about by the majority of the people seeing the film. I am actively a fan of Wicked and I have no idea about Ariana Grande's relationship with Ethan Slater and nor do I care (and neither should anyone else, to be honest? why does it matter who is dating who). From what I've seen of the press tour, it seems to have gone down fairly well. In the instances where interviewers or interviewees have said silly things, the resulting memes have probably created even more publicity for the film (e.g. the whole 'holding space' thing). I don't think there is any substantial number of people not seeing the film for any of these reasons.

I remember being vaguely titillated by the (admittedly pretty wild) story of Grande and Slater getting together, but it had absolutely no impact on my decision to see the film or not, and nobody else I have seen it with/spoken to about it had any clue.