Can Glicked beat Barbenheimer after jaw-dropping $270 million box office debut?

The signs were there, and the films have delivered. Glicked, the word used to describe the joint global release of musical adaptation Wicked and action epic Gladiator II, has opened to a gravity-defying performance at the box office. The two films have collected over $270 million worldwide in the opening weekend, reminding many of Barbie and Oppenheimer’s joint run last year. (Also read: Is Glicked the new Barbenheimer? Wicked, Gladiator II hope to replicate Barbie and Oppenheimer’s collaborative success)
By Sunday, the two films racked up a combined $270.2 million in global ticket sales over the weekend, a gift to cinemas heading into what may be a record-setting holiday season. The robust box office returns provided reassurance to Hollywood, which has weathered cost-cutting and layoffs amid forecasts of the death of cinema as consumers gravitated to streaming video services.
Wicked, the first of two Universal Pictures films based on a Broadway prequel to The Wizard of Oz, topped the domestic and global box office. It pulled in $114 million at US and Canadian theatres, plus $50.2 million in international markets, for a global total of $164.2 million.
According to the studio, it was the biggest opening weekend for a film based on a Broadway musical, ahead of Universal’s 2012 release Les Miserables’ global debut.
Gladiator II, the sequel to the 2000 Oscar-winning classic Gladiator, earned $106 million worldwide, including $55.5 million from domestic sales. The film, which was released last weekend outside the US, had an overall box office tally of $221 million.
The two films were subbed Glicked by fans due to their releasing together and the diverse nature of their genre, cast, and target audiences. While Wicked is a light musical aimed at younger audiences and women, Gladiator II is an epic bloodfest set in ancient Rome, appealing more to men. The phenomenon is similar to when Barbie and Oppenheimer were released together. The two films collaborated instead of colliding, creating a rare cohesive box office phenomenon. Fans had hoped for Glicked to recreate that. Even the actors from the two films had rallied behind this joint cause.
Barbie and Oppenheimer – or Barbenheimer as it was called – had set the bar with a $245-million domestic opening weekend in July 2023. Glicked fell well short of them, bringing in $169.5 million at domestic theaters, helping lift the weekend box office to $201.9 million.
Still, the two films delivered a much-needed jolt to movie theaters, after anticipated fall films such as Joker: Folie a Deux and Venom: The Last Dance underperformed at the box office.
Studios and theatre owners are hopeful that Moana 2 will lead next weekend to the strongest Thanksgiving-period sales in history.
Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in the story of a misunderstood, green-skinned student of magic who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. In a campaign reminiscent of the hoopla surrounding Barbie, Wicked tie-ins include pink and green drinks at Starbucks, a fashion line at Target and a Betty Crocker cupcake mix.
Gladiator II stars Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington in a story of political intrigue that unfolds 16 years after the original film.
(With inputs from Reuters)