‘Wicked’ Star Ariana Grande Might’ve Lost Money Playing Glinda

Ariana Grande is an Oscar nominee because of Wicked. But the movie based on the Broadway musical didn’t necessarily give the 31-year-old lots of extra zeroes in her bank account. According to the director of Wicked, Grande might’ve even lost money starring in Wicked. 

Grande focused on nothing but ‘Wicked’ during filming 

In a February 2025 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Wicked director Jon M. Chu suggested Grande, who played Glinda the Good opposite Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba, actually lost money by making the movie. 

How is that possible? After all, Wicked broke box office records on opening weekend in November 2024 and is now nominated for 10 Oscars. Because, as the director explained, Grande gave Wicked her complete attention during the year and a half she spent in London, England, during filming. 

That meant no singing, songwriting, or touring for the Grammy winner. “Can you imagine how much money she must be losing by doing Glinda?” Chu told the outlet. 

While the “Thank U, Next” singer likely made millions from Wicked (more on that later) she’s had some very big paydays in recent years. Between 2019 and 2020 alone she made $72 million from her Sweetener World Tour, according to a Forbes estimate. 

According to Forbes, Grande made $72 million between 2019 to 2020 thanks to her Sweetener World Tour. 

She also devoted lots of time to her ‘Wicked’ audition

Grande started training for Wicked long before she landed the role of Glinda. As the formal audition process got closer, the Grammy winner started meeting regularly with acting coach Nancy Banks. 

Banks gave Grande “a crash course in acting,” which involved monologues from other productions because Wicked didn’t have a script yet. “Three times a week, two hours a day for months, she just kept her head down and went from vocal class [with Eric Vetro] to me,” Banks told the outlet. 

“The really great ones work their a**es off…Banks” said added. “But she wore me down—and I mean that delightfully, of course.”

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were paid the same amount for ‘Wicked’

After false reports began circulating in November 2024 that Grande made $15 million playing Glinda while Erivo only made $1 million as Elphaba, Universal Studios dismissed the claim, saying both actors were paid the same amount. 

“Reports of pay disparity between Cynthia and Ariana are completely false and based on internet fodder,” a spokesperson for Universal said in a statement (via Variety). “The women received equal pay for their work on ‘Wicked.’”

Universal didn’t reveal exactly how much each of them although Erivo and Grande have since shared that they negotiated their contracts together. 

“We went through our contracts together and called each other up. ‘Did you see that? What do you think about that? Let’s get it together!’” Grande told Variety in a joint interview with her Wicked co-star.

“We both went through it—‘What number are we doing? How do you feel about that?’ We were really f***ing honest. And that’s really rare. People don’t do that,” Erivo added. 

The second installment, Wicked: For Good, premieres on Nov. 21, 2025.