The latest box office projections have Wicked comfortably beating out Gladiator II for the top spot on the weekend charts. After earning $46.7 million domestically on its opening day, Wicked is estimated to gross $117 million for the weekend. In a distant second is Gladiator II; Ridley Scott’s epic made $22 million domestically on its first day, en route to what should be a $60 million debut. These figures come courtesy of Deadline, which notes this weekend’s high-profile new releases are overpowering the holdovers.
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Rounding out the top five should be last week’s champ Red One ($13 million), new arrival Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin. ($4.6 million), and superhero sequel Venom: The Last Dance ($4 million).
Theaters were hoping Wicked and Gladiator II would be a potent one-two punch to give the marketplace a boost. To this point, the fall box office has been somewhat underwhelming. There was a stretch where Venom: The Last Dance won three straight weekends, a byproduct of the weak competition it faced early in its run; the threequel is its franchise’s lowest-grossing installment. Joker: Folie á Deux, the follow-up to 2019’s $1 billion blockbuster Joker, bombed. Red One managed to exceed its modest expectations, but still only opened with $34 million domestically.
[Related: Venom 3 Crosses Major Box Office Milestone, But It’s Still the Lowest-Grossing Venom Movie]
Not only did Wicked and Gladiator II fill a void, they’re well-received movies, which always improves box office prospects. While Gladiator II has been criticized for offering more of the same, the drama still sports a 72% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Wicked fared even better, boasting an 89% mark. The consensus is these films are worth seeing on the big screen, and audiences came out to support them.
That Wicked is so far ahead of Gladiator II isn’t surprising. Based on the popular musical of the same name, Wicked is a family-friendly option for the holiday season, giving it widespread appeal. In contrast, Gladiator II earns its R rating with brutal, violent action sequences, limiting its target audience. Still, with the two films going after very different demographics, there was room for both to co-exist in theaters. This weekend may not reach the heights of last summer’s Barbenheimer phenomenon, but it’s a nice boon for multiplexes, offering something for everyone.
It will be interesting to see how both Wicked and Gladiator II fare long-term. The box office is set to get even more crowded over the Thanksgiving weekend with the arrival of Moana 2, the sequel to the hit Disney animated film. The original Moana grossed $643.3 million worldwide and was critically acclaimed, making the follow-up one of the year’s most anticipated films. Moana 2 will conceivably eat into Wicked‘s ticket sales; it may even be the more appealing option for families given its shorter runtime. Gladiator II doesn’t have any direct competition this weekend, but it will need strong legs considering its massive production budget. Whether it turns a profit may depend on the word-of-mouth and how it performs overseas.