“Wicked” defies box office gravity to debut as No. 1 film worldwide

Jon M. Chu’s big-screen musical raked in $114 million in the U.S. this weekend, with 'Gladiator II' slashing at its heels in second place.

Moviegoers got Wicked this weekend, driving the long-awaited adaptation of the beloved Broadway hit to the top of the box office charts around the globe.

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s green and pink magic conjured up $114 million in ticket sales in the U.S., averaging $29,321 in ticket sales across the 3,888 theaters.

Jon M. Chu's eye-popping film, which also stars Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, and Bowen Yang, has earned $164.2 worldwide as of Sunday.

Related: Wicked review: This musical adaptation hits the right notes, but lacks visual variety

Gladiator II claimed the No. 2 box-office spot this weekend. Ridley Scott’s directorial return pulled in $55.5 million across 3.573 theaters in its domestic debut, setting a record for an R-rated film’s biggest November opening.

Paul Mescal,  Pedro Pascal, and Denzel Washington headline the follow-up to Russell Crowe's Oscar-winning turn in 2000’s Gladiator. The two-decades-later sequel earned an additional $50.5 million internationally for cumulative earnings global earnings of $221 million.

Audiences were also feeling festive this weekend, with the Chris Evans/Dwayne Johnson Santa bounty hunter comedy Red One landing its sleigh in the No. 3 slot. An additional $13.3 in ticket sales gives director Jake Kasdan’s film a nice-not-naughty overall domestic haul of $133.8 million after two weeks of release.

At No. 4 on the box-office list, the literally named Bonhoeffer: Paster. Spy.  Assassin. — seriously, it’s all right there in the title! — earned $13.28 million in its debut weekend across 1,900 theaters nationwide. Bonhoeffer tells the story of a preacher at the center of a plot to assassinate Hitler. (See? Pastor, spy, assassin.)

Related: Now entering the arena: Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal unsheathe Gladiator II

Rounding out the top five films of the weekend was Venom: The Last Dance. As it entered its second month of release, the R-rated Tom Hardy super(anti)hero sequel earned another $4 million for a total haul of $133.8 million.

Claiming the six through 10 spots domestically this weekend were The Best Christmas Pageant Ever ($3.5 million), Heretic ($2.23 million), The Wild Robot ($2.0 million), Smile 2 ($1.11 million), and A Real Pain ($1.1 million).

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Globally, the five most popular films of the weekend mirror the U.S. list save for the No. 4 slot, which saw Chinese comedy-drama Her Story pull in $16.6 million in its debut weekend.

Her Story centers its narrative on two women, a jobless single mother and her seemingly chipper new neighbor.