Wicked: Part One breaks multiple box office records with huge opening figures

With that box office taking, the musical movie broke 16 records in the process, including the biggest global and domestic opening for a movie based on a Broadway show, beating the worldwide opening of Les Misérables ($103 million) and the domestic opening of Into the Woods ($31 million).

Wicked also became the biggest global and domestic opening for Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, which bested the $12 million stateside start for Widows for the latter.

Further records include the biggest opening ever for a musical feature by Stephen Schwartz, the biggest global and domestic opening ever for director Jon M Chu and the biggest first day for a movie based on a Broadway musical at $46.4 million.

Read more:

• Wicked's Jonathan Bailey reveals the one thing that makes his Fiyero unique
• Wicked's production designer explains how the sets were created for the film

Starring Erivo and Grande as Elphaba and Glinda, the movie has been met with rave reviews from critics and fans alike, with RadioTimes.com giving the movie four stars, noting that the film "combines the best of old and new-school filmmaking".

Adapted from the popular musical, which recently celebrated 18 years on London's West End, Jon M Chu had a hefty task in doing right by the story as he brought it to life, and revealed to RadioTimes.com a key piece of advice he was given early on in the filmmaking process.

"You know, for me, it was what Stephen Schwartz and Winnie [Holzman] and Marc Platt said to me from the very beginning, the thing that was their guiding light in doing the show was, 'It's about the girls, stupid,'" he explained.

"So no matter how distracting it can be to worry about the sets and the lights and the things... like, that was all important, but it's not the actual reason the show works.

"It is the relationship between these two women, the nuances and them sort of scratching at truths, that is the thing that I think is the most compelling of it all. So that was sort of my guiding light."

Wicked: Part One is now showing in UK cinemas.

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