Topline
Critics are generally praising “Wicked: For Good,” the sequel and conclusion to last year’s mega-hit “Wicked,” but reviews haven’t lived up to its predecessor as some question whether the film adaptation needed to be two parts, though the movie is still expected to breathe life into a dismal fall box office.
“Wicked: For Good” opens in theaters Friday. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/WireImage)
WireImage
Key Facts
The first critic reviews for “Wicked: For Good” poured in Tuesday afternoon, days before it opens in theaters, with the film notching a 72% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 61% rating on Metacritic, both aggregators of critic scores.
Both scores are noticeably lower than those earned by “Wicked,” which boasted an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 73% on Metacritic—and then went on to score 10 Oscar nominations and two wins.
The Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-led movie concludes the two-part film adaptation of the popular Broadway musical, though some critics have questioned whether two movies, totaling about five hours in combined runtime, is excessive.
Despite the gap in scores, Deadline projects “Wicked: For Good” to debut with between $112 million and $115 million in its opening weekend, nearly identical to the $112.5 million part one grossed in its first weekend last year.
Chief Critics
Some reviewers compared the movie unfavorably to the first part, including The Wrap critic William Bibbiani, who called the second half “wildly inferior.” Bibbiani questioned whether a second part was released one year later “to make a heck of a lot more money” for Universal Pictures in box office and merchandise sales, citing a nearly $1,000 “Wicked” bag sold by Canadian clothing brand Roots and $450 Glinda and Elphaba-themed dutch ovens sold by Le Creuset. Bibbiani also criticized the addition of new songs and said the movie is “rushing to the finish line, desperately cramming in all the elements it’s obligated to cram in.” IndieWire critic Kate Erbland, who called the film series a “needlessly two-part adaptation” of the Broadway show, criticized the length, noting the movies are five hours combined compared to the two hour, 45-minute Broadway musical, which has a brief intermission. Rolling Stone critic David Fear said some of the musical’s peaks, like “Defying Gravity,” come in the first film, and that the second film mostly exists just to “tie up loose ends.” Boston Globe critic Odie Henderson said breaking up the movie into two parts makes the emotion “fractured,” stating the conclusion of “Wicked: For Good” feels anticlimactic without first hearing “Defying Gravity” earlier in the film.