"Wicked" tops North American box office on opening weekend

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Universal Pictures' musical fantasy film "Wicked" debuted atop the North American box office this weekend with an estimated three-day cume of 114 million U.S. dollars, data from the measurement firm Comscore showed on Sunday.

"Wicked" is the first chapter of a two-part film adaptation of the stage musical of the same name. "Wicked Part Two" is scheduled to arrive in theaters in November 2025.

Directed by Chinese American filmmaker Jon M. Chu, the film stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, a young woman misunderstood because of her unusual green skin, who has yet to discover her true power, and Ariana Grande as Glinda, a popular young woman gilded by privilege who has yet to discover her true heart.

The film has earned an approval rating of 90 percent based on 263 reviews to date on the review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, and an "A" on an "A+" to "F" scale from audiences polled by the market research firm CinemaScore.

In addition, "Wicked" took in 50.2 million dollars in 61 international markets for a global total of 164.2 million dollars.

Another newcomer, Paramount Pictures' epic historical action film "Gladiator II" opened to a weekend debut of 55.5 million dollars in second place in North America. The sequel to 2000's "Gladiator" has grossed 221 million dollars worldwide.

Amazon MGM Studios' Christmas film "Red One" landed in third on its second weekend with 13.3 million dollars for a North American cume of 52.9 million dollars through Sunday. ■