'Wicked: For Good' soars with record-breaking $150 million opening weekend

“Wicked: For Good” didn’t need magic to shatter box office records

“Wicked: For Good” didn’t need magic to shatter box office records.

The highly anticipated sequel to the first “Wicked” is now the No. 1 film at the domestic box office, hauling in an estimated $150 million domestically and $226 million worldwide this weekend.

The film had the biggest-ever opening weekend for a Broadway adaptation, beating out its predecessor, which opened to $112.5 million almost exactly a year ago. It also achieved the second-highest opening weekend of the year, just behind “A Minecraft Movie,” which raked in $163 million when it debuted in April.

Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at box office data company Comscore, said he was impressed that “Wicked: For Good” outpaced “Wicked” at the box office, noting there’s never a guarantee that sequels of popular movies will perform to expectations.

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande attend the "Wicked: For Good" European premiere at Cineworld London Leicester Square in London on Nov. 10.Kate Green / Getty Images“That doesn’t always happen,” he said. “It’s a testament to how much audiences around the world love ‘Wicked,’ these stars and just the way these movies are presented on the big screen.”