The Land of Oz has once again defied gravity—and critics. Universal Pictures’ grand finale, Wicked: For Good, has obliterated expectations, but its success story is cleaved by a deep divide. While audiences poured into theaters over the holiday weekend, crowning the film with historic box office receipts, professional critics declared the sequel a visually opulent but emotionally empty slog. The question now isn’t whether this film will make money, but whether spectacle alone can sustain the legacy of L. Frank Baum’s beloved world when the storytelling falters.
Also read: WICKED: FOR GOOD REVIEWS: Our Take and Three Critics Weigh In
The Undeniable Box Office Powerhouse
The box office data paints a picture of outright victory. As reported by both CNN and Deadline, Wicked: For Good has become an event film for the ages. The sequel soared to an estimated $226 million global debut, including a stunning $150 million haul in North America.
This performance smashes the previous record—held by its predecessor, Wicked—for the biggest opening weekend ever for a Broadway musical adaptation. This financial gravity-defiance isn’t just great news for Universal; it represents a massive surge of confidence for the entire exhibition industry, proving that audiences will turn out en masse for highly anticipated, family-targeted intellectual property (IP). The film’s A CinemaScore and overwhelmingly positive audience exit polls confirm that the sheer spectacle, combined with the star power of Cynthia Erivo (Elphaba) and Ariana Grande (Glinda), was precisely the cinematic event fans craved.
The Critical Divide and the Narrative Drag
Yet, where the balance sheets sing, the major culture critics offer a discordant note. While the box office reports focused on the how much people paid, prestige reviews dissect why they might have been disappointed.
The harshest reviews, echoing a sentiment seen in The New Yorker, argue that splitting the musical into two parts stretched an already complicated second act past its breaking point. Critics contend that For Good is bogged down by the necessity of bridging the gap between the prequel’s conclusion and the start of The Wizard of Oz. The result, they suggest, is a film that loses its sense of movement, lacking the revelatory wonder of the first installment.
The consensus among polarized critics is a technical admiration for the production design and Erivo’s staggering vocal performance, set against a palpable narrative exhaustion. The core themes of systemic oppression and Glinda’s necessary moral compromise, though darker and more serious, are sometimes overshadowed by a script criticized for sluggish pacing and an excessive need to “explain” every single element of the 1939 classic—from the Tin Man’s origin (Boq, played by Ethan Slater) to the fate of Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero, who, as trending queries confirm, transforms into the Scarecrow. This over-explanation, some reviewers note, strips the original Oz of its fundamental, charming mystery.
The Conclusion: The Unstoppable Power of Myth
The ultimate takeaway from this cultural battle is that, in 2025, commercial success and critical consensus have become fundamentally decoupled. Wicked: For Good isn’t simply a movie; it is the culmination of a 22-year-old theatrical myth that asks a potent, modern question: What if the hero was the villain?
The critical complaints about its structure—that it feels like a necessary coda, an over-explanation to justify the beloved 1939 film’s plot points—are entirely valid. The narrative, as adapted from Gregory Maguire’s novel, demands a sacrifice of cinematic momentum in favor of satisfying the Oz canon.
However, the audience response shows that the themes of enduring female friendship, the power of speaking truth to institutional corruption, and the sheer talent of Erivo and Grande were overwhelming factors. The audience walked out with their hearts full, rating it an A, while the critics walked out with their notebooks full, giving it a mixed rating.
My analysis suggests that Universal Pictures correctly identified this project not as a film to be judged purely on artistic merit (the critique of the split was baked into the strategy), but as a cultural checkpoint—a required pilgrimage for a fanbase desperate to witness the final, heartbreaking duet of Elphaba and Glinda. The film is a victory of IP management, a testament to the unstoppable, transcendent power of the Oz mythology, and a clear signal that for some stories, the audience’s collective heart will always be a more powerful metric than any Rotten Tomatoes score. The money is made. The legacy is secured. Now, we wait to see which new corner of Oz Hollywood decides to explore next.
By Max, Senior Culture Analyst, Virlan Explore
Wicked: For Good has done something rare in Hollywood: it doesn’t just ride the coattails of The Wizard of Oz — it reclaims and redefines the Oz mythos for today. The box office proves the world still wants to believe in a place “somewhere over the rainbow,” but the critical voices remind us that the journey there isn’t always golden.