Musicals have thrived at the box office this month – naysayers should change their tune

Despite all the reports about big-screen musicals not having a mass appeal, it turns out audiences are very much game for a trip to see movies with a tune or two. Studios have been seeing some big numbers over the last few weeks – with this weekend being a particular highpoint for the genre.

First of all, the new movie version of the stage adaptation of 2004 classic Mean Girls raked in a box office-leading $32 million following its US premiere. The tally means the Angourie Rice and Renée Rapp-led film has essentially earned back its reported production budget (not including marketing costs) in a single weekend – all the more impressive given it’s not even opened in a variety of international markets (the UK included). Considering the flick was originally destined to go direct to streaming, it does feel as though movie studios have seen the light when it comes to material this well-received. It begs the question how well Matilda would have done at the global box office if it hadn’t gone direct to Netflix in almost every market.

Despite all the social media chatter (and some slightly dubious marketing), distributor Paramount’s audience surveys have said more than 75 per cent of ticket buyers were aware of the fact the flick was indeed a musical, with only a small minority finding that underwhelming.

Musical prequel flick Wonka has also earned sweet success this weekend – crossing the half-billion mark at the global box office and bearing down on the overall tallies of the likes of Mamma Mia!. It also became the highest grossing Wonka-related film to date, outpacing 2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which is great news for all concerned.

It does provide a sugary release after a patchy period for the genre at the wider box office – the musical adaptation of The Color Purple, despite a strong start, has seen its box office numbers wane in recent weeks (it is released later this month in the UK), while recent movies like West Side Story all failed to make back their budgets. Hopefully the success of Mean Girls will regalvanise studios and make them consider what can, and can’t, work.

If all this is great news for anyone, it’s Universal – their two-part Wicked movie will be released at the end of the year, and everything seems to be pointing in the right direction for some gravity-defying results.