‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator’ make gravity-defying theatre debuts

PTI, Nov 25, 2024, 11:43 AM IST

New York, (AP): With a combined USD 270 million in worldwide ticket sales, “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” breathed fresh life into a box office that has struggled lately, leading to one of the busiest moviegoing weekends of the year.

Jon M Chu’s lavish big-budget musical “Wicked”, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, debuted with USD 114 million domestically and $164.2 million globally for Universal Pictures, according to studio estimates Sunday.

That made it the third-biggest opening weekend of the year, behind only “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Inside Out 2”. It’s also a record for a Broadway musical adaptation.

Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II”, a sequel to his 2000 best picture-winning original, launched with USD 55.5 million in ticket sales. With a price tag of around USD 250 million to produce it, “Gladiator II” was a big bet by Paramount Pictures to return to the Coliseum with a largely new cast, led by Denzel Washington and Paul Mescal.

While it opened with a touch less than the USD 60 million predicted in domestic ticket sales, “Gladiator II” has performed well overseas. It added USD 50.5 million internationally.

The collision of the two movies led to some echoes of the “Barbenheimer” effect of last year, when “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” launched simultaneously. The nickname this time, “Glicked”, wasn’t quite as catchy and the cultural imprint was also notably less. Few people sought out a double feature this time.

The domestic grosses in 2023 – USD 162 million for “Barbie” and USD 82 million for “Oppenheimer” – were also higher.

For Universal, which distributed “Oppenheimer” last year, the weekend was more a triumph of “Wicked” than it was of “Glicked”.

“We saw an opportunity to dominate a weekend and get a very large running start into the Thanksgiving holiday,” said Jim Orr, distribution chief for Universal. “We’re very confident that it will play ridiculously well through the Christmas corridor and into the new year.”

But the counter-programming effect was still potent for “Wicked” and “Gladiator II”, which likewise split broadly along gender lines. And it was again the female-leaning release – “Wicked”, like “Barbie” before it – that easily won the weekend.

About 72 per cent of ticket buyers for “Wicked” were female, while 61 per cent of those seeing “Gladiator II” were male.

“Standing on their own, each of these movies may have done pretty much what they did, but it’s hard to know,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “Raising awareness can indeed lead to an increase in box office. Let’s put it this way: They didn’t hurt each other at all.”

While “Barbenheimer” benefitted enormously from meme-spread word-of-mouth, both “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” leaned on all-out marketing blitzes.

The “Gladiator II” campaign featured everything from a much-debated Airbnb cross-promotion with the actual Colosseum in Rome to simultaneously running a one-minute trailer on more than 4,000 TV networks, radio station and digital platforms.

The “Wicked” onslaught went even further, with pink and green themed “Wickedly Delicious” Starbucks drinks, Stanley mugs and Mattel dolls (some of which led to an awkward recall). Its stars made appearances at the Met Gala and the Olympics.

“We had roughly 400 global brand partners on ‘Wicked’, so the campaign was inescapable,” said Orr. “And our cast, led by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, worked so hard on this. They were everywhere. They did everything we asked them to do.”

Going into the weekend, box office was down about 11 per cent from last year and some 25 per cent from pre-pandemic times. That meant this week’s two headline films led a much-needed resurgence for theatres.

With “Moana 2” releasing Wednesday, Hollywood might be looking at historic sales over the Thanksgiving holiday.
“This weekend’s two strong openers are invigorating a box office that fell apart after a good summer,” said David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter for Franchise Entertainment.

Though “Wicked” will face some direct competition from “Moana 2”, it would seem better set up for a long and lucrative run in theatres than “Gladiator II”. Though some have dinged “Wicked” for running long, at 2 hours and 40 minutes, the film has had mostly stellar reviews. Audiences gave it an “A” on CinemaScore.

The reception for “Wicked” has been strong enough that Oscar prognosticators expect it to be a contender for best picture at the Academy Awards, among other categories.

Producers, perhaps sensing a hit, also took the step of splitting “Wicked” in two. Part two, already filmed, is due out next November. Each “Wicked” installation cost around USD 150 million to make.

“Gladiator II” has also enjoyed good reviews, particularly for Washington’s charismatic performance. Audience scores, though, were weaker, with ticket buyers giving it a “B” on CinemaScore.

The film will make up for some of that, however, with robust international sales. It launched in many overseas markets a week ago, and has already accrued USD 165.5 million internationally.

Coming in a distant third place for the weekend was “Red One”, the Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans holiday movie turned action film. In its second week of release, the Amazon MGM Studios release grossed USD 13.3 million to bring its two-week global haul to USD 117 million. At a cost of USD 250 million to make, “Red One” is the season’s biggest flop, though it could recoup some value for Amazon if it’s more popular once it begins streaming. (AP)