A wicked good weekend for “Wicked”

The opening weekend “Wicked: For Good” was magic for the movie industry.

It raked in an estimated $150 million in North America, making it the second-biggest opening weekend of the year and the biggest opening weekend ever for a film based on a Broadway show.

This brings to light two marketing issues.

One is the extensive roster of brand partnerships forged by “Wicked: For Good.”  Universal Pictures says the list includes more than 400 brands.  Urban Outfitters, Puma, Swiffer, Owala, R.E.M. Beauty, Absolut, Ordo tooth brushes, Gain, LEGO, Kay Jewelers, Skittles….and on and on.

Some of them are especially clever, but one wonders whether there is a balance between getting attention and brand fatigue.  (Then again, critics wondered the same thing a year ago, during the first “Wicked” movie, but obviously not too many people burned out.

Second, “Wicked” is a relatively rare box-office success these days. Box office sales are down 26 percent compared to 2019. Even many highly-regarded movies are losing money.

Before COVID, movies enjoyed at least a 90-day window before they were available for streaming at home.  In many cases, that window was much wider. Now, the window is down to an average of 30 days. Sometimes it’s barely more than two weeks.

As Mark Ritson writes in The Drum, longer windows make the opening of a new movie into an event, something you anticipate and can’t wait to be a part of. But when the window is so short, why bother?  Wait a few weeks and you can see the same movie on your sofa for less money and hassle. (Although it’s also probably a diminished experience compared to the theater.)

Short windows mean less buzz, less word of mouth, and ultimately less revenue. Films with less than a 25-day theatrical window consistently underperform. The sweet spot is between 26 and 45 days.

One wonders what studios will do to adjust. Will they expand the windows again and nudge people off the sofa and into the theater?