Cynthia’s Victory Lap

In addition to Beyoncé, Cynthia Erivo was also in Las Vegas on Saturday for the Grand Prix, which is fitting because, well, you could say it was a victory lap. Wicked: For Good opened to big numbers this weekend, surpassing the first movie’s first weekend, with $150 million domestic and a global total of $226 million and smashing records. Thursday is Thanksgiving in the United States which will only boost the movie’s totals. This is a huge win for the filmmakers and the studio, and of course for Cynthia. It’s also another great example of what can happen when you make movies targeting a female audience – for the second weekend in a row. 

Last weekend, it was Now You See Me: Now You Don’t topping the box office over The Running Man, starring Glen Powell, with the support of female moviegoers who represented over half of the audience. Almost 70% of the Wicked: For Good audience this weekend was women, similar to the first movie last year. And, going back to Sinners earlier this year, remember when Hollywood executives were stunned by the film’s box office in the weeks AFTER opening weekend? It was women were showing up in weeks two and three, pretty much maintaining the movie’s box office at its opening level. 

Looking ahead, then, it’ll be interesting to see how The Housemaid performs. The book by Freida McFadden is huge on BookTok, which is largely female. The film, starring Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney, opens December 19 and just like Wicked, the target audience is women. In the first half of next year, there are two highly anticipated titles also aimed at a female audience: Wuthering Heights and The Devil Wears Prada 2. There is high value to making movies for women, even if Hollywood executives never seem to acknowledge it. 

So, back to Wicked and Wicked: For Good, there are some people I’ve seen online who seem determined to complain about the movies for one reason or another, and while I’m not saying that anyone is obligated to like the films or consider them to be the greatest achievement in cinema history, it’d be nice if we could balance out the bitching with an acknowledgement that these movies serve a female and queer audience that is rarely prioritised. And those are the people who showed up.