“Wicked” Wins Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Award at 2025 Golden Globes

Wicked won its first award at the 2025 Golden Globes.

The film took home the cinematic and box office achievement award at the 82nd annual ceremony on Sunday, Jan. 5. In his acceptance speech, director Jon M. Chu, who was joined on stage by Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum and Marc E. Platt, honored everyone who helped make the adaptation so successful.

“We love you, thank you and we stand on your shoulders,” Chu said, speaking of the original play, which debuted in 2003. “My parents came to this country and loved Wizard of Oz. They'd tell us about the yellow brick road and the place over the rainbow, where all dreams come true if you dare to dream it. So I'm up here looking at you, living the dream and looking at this beautiful, beautiful cast. It's more beautiful than I ever thought it could be.”

He went on to recognize all the behind-the-scenes crew members and lovers of film who contributed to the creation of the film.

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“We all fell in love with movies at some point. We were all in the dark when we saw something that changed our brains and made us see a perspective we've never thought before, or opened a culture that we never believed existed before and made us drop everything and risk everything to be here in this town right now. I think about that and I think about how beautiful that is,” Chu said.

“This is for you, the fans out there who came to the movie theaters, who bring their friends and family and stay in the dark. We saw your videos, we saw your singalongs, we saw your makeup, your hair products, your bakery items. And it shows us how important making this stuff is,” he concluded. “In a time when pessimism and cynicism rule the planet right now, we can still make art that is a radical act of optimism, that is empowerment and that is joy. So when we discover that maybe the world isn't exactly the way we thought it was, and maybe [we all have] a little bit of Elphaba inside of us ... that maybe we have that courage and that strength to not give up but to rise up. Take the road off the yellow brick road and maybe discover we can fly.”

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Related: Ariana Grande's 59-Year-Old Archival Dress at 2025 Golden Globes Is a Subtle Nod to Her Wicked Character

Wicked: Part One received four total nominations at the 2025 Golden Globes, including a nod for best motion picture - musical or comedy. Grande and Erivo also received their first-ever nominations, with Erivo up for her performance as Elphaba in the leading female actor - musical or comedy category, and Grande for best performance by a female actor in a supporting role for playing Glinda.

In December, Grande told PEOPLE that it was "so surreal" to find out that both she and Erivo were nominated. She also shared that they congratulated each other immediately after hearing the news.

"We were just crying together and screaming, and we sent each other flowers immediately," Grande said at the time. "I'm just really deeply proud of her and of us together and the work that we've done. And to see it be recognized is just so — the weight is more than I could have imagined."

See PEOPLE's full coverage of the 82nd annual Golden Globes as they're broadcasting live from The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on CBS and Paramount+.

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