‘Glicked’ fails to match ‘Barbenheimer’ at box office but still ends post-summer slump
'Gladiator 2' and 'Wicked' both recorded huge takings
by Damian Jones · NMEThe release of Gladiator 2 and Wicked hasn’t had the same impact as last year’s Barbenheimer phenomenon, but it has breathed new life into the box office with huge takings.
With a combined $270million (£214.6milion) in worldwide ticket sales over the weekend, it was the third-biggest opening weekend of the year, behind Deadpool & Wolverine and Inside Out 2. It was also a record for a Broadway musical adaptation.
Jon M. Chu’s film debuted with $114million (£90.6million) domestically and $164.2million (£130.5million) globally for Universal Pictures, according to studio estimates (via The Guardian) yesterday (November 24).
Gladiator 2 meanwhile, opened with $55.5million (£44.1million) domestically and it added $50.5million (£40.1million) internationally.
It was hoped that the Glicked effect, would match the Barbenheimer phenomenon but experts already said over the weekend that may well not have been the case.
Plus, the domestic grosses in 2023 – $162m (£128.7million) for Barbie and $82m (£65.1million) for Oppenheimer – were also higher. The weekend was also more a triumph of Wicked than it was of Glicked.
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Tim Richards, CEO of Vue cinemas, said that, unlike Barbenheimer, there’s little evidence of movie-goers booking double bills to see both films. “People are, however, booking both movies pretty extensively right now,” he said. “The word of mouth has been very strong, and all social media has been on fire.”
He went on to say that Wicked is going to be “absolutely extraordinary”. “We’ve sold almost a quarter of a million tickets before a single screening – that’s more pre-sales than Barbie. They’re talking of an opening weekend of somewhere between $160m and $200m.”
Ahead of the weekend, Richards said he believed Wicked could be the biggest film of the year.
Reviewing the movie, which stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo and is an adaptation of the stage musical which tells the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz, NME awarded it four stars and said the “hit musical makes a gravity-defying leap to the big screen”.
“Funny, colourful and full of empathy for outsiders, this film really is the Shiz,” it added.
Meanwhile, Gladiator 2, was awarded three stars from NME: “If you loved Gladiator, it’s odds-on you’ll enjoy this too. It’s got all of the same exciting bits – swordfighting, rousing speeches, nasty poshos getting what they deserve,” Alex Flood wrote.
“The problem is that’s all it gives you. You want to feel like you’re watching Maximus lift off his helmet and deliver that iconic monologue for the first time again. You want the thrill of a core memory being unlocked. You want to know you’ll be quoting Mescal’s lines to your mates in the pub for the next 10 years. Gladiator 2, piously respectful as it is, can only offer a faded memory of that experience. There was a dream that was Rome – and this is kind of it.”