MOVIE NEWS – Wicked and Gladiator II dominated the pre-Thanksgiving weekend in the United States. The films have already grossed $164.2 million and $221 million worldwide, respectively…

Not on the level of Barbenheimer, but the combination of Universal’s musical Wicked and Paramount’s Gladiator II had a phenomenal pre-Thanksgiving weekend, breaking all records for the past decade!

Wicked topped the US chart with an estimated $114 million. While that’s less than Friday’s estimated $120 million, it’s still a record for a film based on a Broadway show. It was the biggest opening for a musical of all time and one of the year’s best openings so far. The film’s worldwide total is $164.2 million.

Gladiator II opened to a strong $55.5 million domestic opening, a strong start for a masculine, sword-and-sandals film (it was estimated to do $60 million on Saturday). It’s expected to do big numbers worldwide, where it has already earned $165.5 million, bringing its global total to $221 million.

In North America, the combined domestic gross of all films reached nearly $200 million this weekend, a 70 per cent increase over the same weekend last year, when the holiday films Napoleon and Wish opened.

Speculation has been rife on social media that Gladiator II and Wicked will repeat the Barbenheimer effect this weekend, drawing men and women to the multiplex as the perfect pairing. While they don’t come close to the domestic openings of Barbie ($162 million) and Oppenheimer ($82.5 million), the films are truly appealing to almost every demographic, including ethnically diverse audiences.

The Thanksgiving field will get even more interesting when Walt Disney Animation’s Moana 2 opens on November 27. Led by the Disney film, the three films should result in the biggest five-day Thanksgiving holiday (Wednesday through Sunday) in domestic box office history — hence the name “Moanapocalypse.”

Wicked Gets a Brilliant “A” CinemaScore from Audiences

Director Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the popular Broadway musical features a stellar cast led by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. Universal is taking a big risk by making two films in parallel – Wicked Part 2 is set to hit theatres in a year. The first film cost $150 million to make before marketing.

Originally based on Gregory Maguire’s best-selling novel, Wicked tells the untold story of the Witches of Oz. Erivo plays Elphaba, and Grande plays Glinda. Winnie Holzman, the stage production’s book writer, wrote the Chu film script with Dana Fox. Oscar-winning composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz adapted the musical for the big screen.

Ridley Scott’s $250 million Gladiator sequel is a top pick for both young and old men, with a CinemaScore of “B.” The film opens 24 years after the first film. It stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen and Fred Hechinger.

If estimates hold true, Gladiator II will be the biggest opening of Washington’s career after American Gangster (also directed by Scott), and could break the records of the first part…

Source: Deadline