Wicked has taken a long time to get to streaming, and with the release still a month away, the reason behind the wait seems confusing at first. It’s only after digging into the streaming trends and Universal Pictures’ history that it all makes sense. Universal released the first of Jon M. Chu’s Wicked movies in theaters on November 22, 2024. The movie was met with great acclaim, earning positive reviews from critics and rave responses from fans of the Broadway musical. The experience of watching Wicked was built for theaters, and audiences flocked to local cinemas to check it out.
Interest in Wicked was high for a lot of reasons, but not everyone may have been able to see it in theaters. Some would like to watch it on repeat from the comfort of their homes after first seeing it in theaters. In either case, the streaming release date for Wicked was something many wanted to know. Universal has now confirmed the film is coming to Peacock on March 21, 2025. That’s still over a month away and four months after it came out in theaters. While many movies come to streaming much quicker than that, Wicked‘s wait is understandable.
Universal Waited For Wicked’s Streaming Release Due To Its Box Office Success
The Movie Was A Huge Hit In Theaters & Has Still Been Doing Well
Universal set Wicked up for great success in theaters thanks to its pre-Thanksgiving release date. With the anticipation behind the film’s arrival, the movie had expectations to do well financially, and it did. Wicked made $727 million at the box office worldwide, blasting past box office records in the process. It easily became the highest-grossing movie based on a Broadway musical. Wicked‘s success began immediately with its shocking $112 million opening weekend. The strong word of mouth carried the film for months after this.
The sustained success that Wicked saw gave Universal a reason not to rush the film’s streaming release. Studios typically only move a film to digital, and then streaming, as the box office slows down. With a film of this size, a longer wait was always anticipated. But with Wicked‘s legs holding strong for weeks, Universal could wait longer than the average movie. This is the fifth-highest-grossing movie of 2024 overall and third-highest domestically, after all. Having Wicked‘s streaming release come any sooner could have cost the film business in theaters. Universal even waited longer than average with the digital release.
Wicked’s Streaming Release Wait Is On Par With Many Other Universal Blockbusters
Universal Has A Habit Of Long Streaming Waits For Big Budget Movies
Some people may still be surprised that Universal waited this long to make Wicked available on streaming. I am not one of those people. Universal has a very consistent track record with how it operates when it comes to releasing its tentpole films on streaming. Wicked is coming to Peacock 119 days after it debuted in theaters. That gap between theaters and streaming is the standard for Universal’s blockbusters. Twisters, The Fall Guy, and Fast X also had 119-day gaps between theaters and streaming, as did DreamWorks’ Migration and Trolls Band Together.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Despicable Me 4, and The Wild Robot had 120-day gaps too
Based on Universal’s track record, Wicked coming to streaming on March 21, 2025, was easily predictable. The only way this wouldn’t have happened would have been if the movie bombed at the box office. Once it became clear after the film’s opening weekend that it would be a massive box office hit, waiting until late March should have been expected. It might seem odd that it’ll come to streaming after Wicked‘s Oscar hopes are decided, but an earlier release would have required breaking the studio’s strategy and possibly nulifying any clauses in contracts committing to this gap before streaming.
