Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Box Office: “Wicked: For Good” Sells Out Most Manhattan Shows for Previews Tonight Despite Meh Reviews: The Fans Are Coming

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Quick look around Manhattan theaters:

“Wicked For Good” has sold out most of its shows in the city.

At Lincoln Plaza, generally the bellwether, all the IMAX, Dolby, and Standard Seating is gone.

There are a few ducats around. The Times Square theaters will be pretty full, too.

Previews begin this afternoon, which is prime time for after school. But the solid sell outs go through prime time hours, too, tonight.

But that’s New York, not the suburbs, where there’s plenty of blue on the map everywhere. So it’s unclear if “Wicked for Good” will just be a phenom in mediacentric areas, or if the spell will spread beyond Oz to the hinterlands.

What’s absolutely true is that there are dozens of showings everywhere. Theater operators have turned over all the real estate they have to accommodate the “Wicked” fans and are hoping for a high turnout.

Meanwhile, all insiders will be watching and waiting for a Cinemascore and other audience reactions at the end of each screening. Tomorrow will be quite the day in movie reporting.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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