Well, I was wrong. I kept thinking “they’ve spent way too long promoting Wicked, there’s no way this is going to do what they think it will.” I thought it would be an oversaturation issue, that people would be bored of hearing about Wicked before Part 1 even came out. But I was wrong – people love a musical, especially when it’s the first film adaptation of a massively popular Broadway show. Wicked is on track to becoming one of the biggest hits of the year. Gladiator II also performed very well – they were trying to make this into another Barbenheimer head-to-head (“Glicked”) and it worked?
If you care to find “Wicked,” look to the top of box office charts. Universal’s adaptation of Act One (with some padding) of the popular Broadway musical was No. 1 in North America with $114 million from 3,888 theaters over the weekend.
Those dazzling ticket sales rank as the third biggest domestic debut of the year behind “Deadpool & Wolverine” ($211 million) and “Inside Out 2” ($154 million). Among other benchmarks, “Wicked” landed the fourth-biggest start in history for a musical, ahead of Disney’s recent “The Little Mermaid” remake ($95.5 million) and behind “Frozen II” ($130 million), as well as the best opening (by far) for a Broadway adaptation, overtaking the record held by 2014’s “Into the Woods” ($31 million).
“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 another Universal musical, “Les Miserables,” with $103 million in 2012.
“It’s a juggernaut,” says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “Audiences are making the singing and costume experience their own.”
While “Wicked” was courting women (nearly 75% of ticket buyers) and families, men turned out in force for Paramount’s R-rated “Gladiator II,” the quarter-century-in-the-making sequel from director Ridley Scott. The bloody sword-and-sandal epic opened solidly in second place (though behind expectations) with $55.5 million from 3,573 cinemas over the weekend.
It’s unclear whether “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” fueled each other, à la “Barbenheimer,” an unexpected 2023 phenomenon in which tens of thousands of moviegoers opted for back-to-back screenings rather than choosing between Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” — or if “Glicked” is just an effective case of counterprogramming. Either way, this weekend was one of the biggest of the year with approximately $210 million in overall revenues.
Meanwhile, I debated whether to see Anora this weekend at the second-run theater in town – I ended up not going, but I will try to catch it this week before it leaves theaters. Like, I’m much more excited to see the awards-bait “smaller” films. But I’m happy for Wicked and Gladiator II. I even think they’ll both end up with some awards nominations, especially in supporting categories. People are saying Ariana Grande could get nominated in supporting actress, and Denzel Washington might get some supporting actor noms. It’s always good when actors are nominated from films people have actually seen.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, ‘Gladiator II’ poster.