(Reuters) -"Wicked," the first of two movies based on a beloved Broadway musical, soared into theaters with an estimated $114 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales, distributor Universal Pictures said on Sunday.

“Wicked” collected an additional $50.2 million at the international box office, bringing its global tally to $164.2 million. It marks the biggest worldwide opening for a film based on a Broadway show, supplanting Universal’s “Les Miserables” with $103 million in 2012.

Battling a 27 percent decline in domestic ticket sales compared with before the pandemic, studios left no marketing drum unthumped in releasing the movies.