The highly anticipated films breathe life into cinemas ahead of a potentially record-breaking holiday season.
The box office has been reignited with the combined global success of Wicked and Gladiator II, which raked in an impressive $270.2 million (Dh992 million) over the weekend. Both films are now showing in UAE cinemas, offering moviegoers an exhilarating mix of musical magic and historical drama.
A Weekend to Remember
The two films, affectionately dubbed “Glicked” by fans, contributed $169.5 million in domestic ticket sales, pushing the North American weekend box office to $201.9 million. This marks the most lucrative weekend since July’s release of Deadpool & Wolverine.
Despite falling short of the $245 million frenzy generated by Barbie and Oppenheimer in July 2023, the strong performance of Wicked and Gladiator II has sparked hope for a robust holiday season at the box office.
Wicked: A Musical Triumph
Based on the Broadway prequel to The Wizard of Oz, Wicked led the weekend’s earnings, collecting $114 million domestically and an additional $50.2 million internationally, for a total of $164.2 million. This makes it the largest opening for a film adaptation of a Broadway musical, surpassing Universal’s 2012 release Les Misérables.
Directed by Jon M. Chu, Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, who portray characters entangled in a tale of magic and misunderstood heroism. “It’s wrapped in a fairy tale, but the point of it is to dig at real truth,” Chu said at the London premiere.
Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast, invested roughly $160 million to bring the film to life, along with a wide-reaching marketing campaign that included a Super Bowl ad and an array of themed products, from Starbucks drinks to Betty Crocker cupcake mixes.
Gladiator II: A Roaring Return
The highly anticipated sequel to Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning epic, Gladiator II brought in $106 million globally, with $55.5 million from domestic audiences. Released a week earlier in international markets, its cumulative box office total now stands at $221 million.
The film, starring Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, and Denzel Washington, explores political intrigue 16 years after the events of the original. Gladiator II has been celebrated for its ability to capture the grandeur of its predecessor while introducing a fresh, compelling narrative.
Cinemas See a Bright Future
The success of these films has been a boon for theatre chains like AMC Entertainment and Cinemark, which are gearing up for another blockbuster release with Disney’s Moana 2. Industry analysts predict that Thanksgiving and the year-end period could yield record-breaking box office earnings, potentially surpassing the $2.5 billion holiday season record set in 2017.
“This lineup of films, starting with Glicked and Moana 2, is the best possible news for movie theatres,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a media analyst at Comscore.
Looking Ahead
Wicked and Gladiator II have set the stage for a thrilling holiday movie season, with more major releases on the horizon, including Mufasa: The Lion King, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan.
With the second Wicked film scheduled for release in November 2025, and audiences eagerly awaiting the next big hits, the resilience of the box office proves once again that the magic of cinema is here to stay.
