Zinger Key Points
- Universal's Wicked hits $700M globally, becoming 2024's top-grossing non-sequel and best-ever stage musical adaptation.
- Comcast transitions Wicked to PVOD, achieving Universal's best first-week performance and boosting streaming market optimism.
- Get the Real Story Behind Every Major Earnings Report
Comcast Corp CMCSA announced that Universal Pictures’ Wicked topped the $700 million mark at the global box office.
Of the total, $240.4 million came from the international box office, while $460.6 million came domestically.
The film transitioned to Premium Video on Demand (PVOD) on December 31, 2024, making it Universal’s best-ever first week.
Also Read: Netflix’s NFL Debut Brings Record Streams But Lags Traditional TV: Report
Starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, Wicked ended 2024 as Universal’s second-highest-grossing film of the year globally. It also became the highest-grossing non-sequel of 2024 and claimed the title of the all-time top-grossing stage musical adaptation, surpassing Universal’s Mamma Mia!
Comcast lost 87,000 broadband customers in the third quarter amid telecom rivalry. Comcast is looking to spin off select cable networks and digital assets into a new publicly traded entity called SpinCo, which Goldman Sachs expects will boost CNBC and MSNBC monetization and be accretive to revenue growth.
Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson told Reuters that it expects broadband subscriber losses to be slightly above 100,000 in the fourth quarter, compared to the estimated 64,400 Visible Alpha consensus subscriber loss.
Goldman Sachs expects Comcast’s fourth quarter to meet estimates, with slight misses in broadband additions and content EBITDA.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan’s David Karnovsky noted that the movie theater industry is possibly normalizing after facing the 2020 pandemic and labor disruptions. It remains constructive on the sector, given the rise of the streaming market led by Netflix Inc NFLX. The analyst also highlighted Walt Disney Co’s DIS upcoming movies like “Zootopia 2,” “Snow White,” and more. Karnovsky projected the 2025 domestic box office to reach $9.50 billion.
According to Box Office Mojo, Disney Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine became the second-highest-grossing movie of 2024 ($1.34 billion).
Goldman Sachs‘ Stephen Laszczyk projected domestic box office revenue of $9.4 billion for 2026.
Price Action: Comcast stock is up 0.25% to $36.67 premarket at last check Tuesday.
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