The great Barbenheimer clash of summer 2023 – when Barbie came out on the same day as Oppenheimer – will for ever be a part of cinema history for capturing the public imagination and bringing audiences back to cinemas in droves after years of Covid-induced antipathy.
So it’s unsurprising, that in an attempt to recapture some of the excitement, fans have come up with a new portmanteau: Glicked, used to refer to the face-off between Gladiator II and Wicked this week.
Ridley Scott’s quarter-century-in-the-making sequel to his 2000 Oscar winner, and Jon M Chu’s adaptation of the beloved stage musical have been released a week apart in the UK and on the same day in the US. And it is hoped the competition will inspire audiences to grab their popcorn for both – sometimes even in back to back screenings.
“If it has a similar effect to what it did for Barbie and Oppenheimer, it would be amazing,” Paul Mescal, who stars as Lucius in Gladiator II, told Entertainment Tonight. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who co-star as Elphaba and Glinda in Wicked, were also both on board with the concept, with Erivo saying: “Glicked is what it is and that is what we should be doing.”
Meanwhile, memes on social media have jumped on the mashup. The artist Eqarti posted a poster placing Mescal’s Gladiator next to Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, as they head toward Oz, with the caption: “goodbye barbenheimer, it’s time for glicked”. Another meme placed Lucius and Glinda in the same pose as Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
“The so-called Glicked movie mashup is reminiscent of the Barbenheimer phenomenon and is definitely creating a cultural buzz,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “Though it’s not quite at the Barbenheimer level, it has certainly raised the profile of both films.”
Sam Glynne, head of EMEA entertainment and culture marketing at UTA, said what Barbie, Oppenheimer, Gladiator II and Wicked had in common was “a fearless take on visceral storytelling, elevated by smart marketing and social and PR campaigns that captivate audiences from all angles before they’ve even ordered their popcorn.”
But according to Tim Richards, CEO of Vue cinemas, there hasn’t been much evidence of people booking double bills like they did for Barbenheimer.
“People are, however, booking both movies pretty extensibly right now,” he said. “The word of mouth has been very strong, and all social media has been on fire.”
The opening weekend for Gladiator II in UK and Ireland was £9.1m – the biggest opening for a Scott picture. The film entered the international box office last week with $87m, marking the biggest international R-rated opening weekend for Paramount Pictures as well as the best overseas debut for Scott, whose highest-grossing films include The Martian ($630m globally) and Gladiator ($465m globally).
“Wicked is also going to be absolutely extraordinary,” Richards said. “We’ve sold almost a quarter of a million tickets before a single screening – that’s more pre-sales than Barbie. They’re talking of an opening weekend of somewhere between $160m and $200m.”
But, despite the enthusiasm, some fans are becoming wary of the constant attempts to reinvent Barbenheimer (there was talk of Saw Patrol last year, and Gladdington as recently as last week). One TikTok user said: “There will never be another barbenheimer.” Another person posted on X: “stop trying to make glicked happen.”
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David Hancock, a media and entertainment analyst at Omdia, agreed that Glicked was entirely manufactured. “It isn’t a double bill. Gladdington was also tried, and didn’t set alight, because it seemed forced and derivative.”
The reason Barbenheimer took off, Hancok added, was because it came together organically. “It was a particular moment [in the recovery of cinema], at a particular time [summer] with particular films [they both were original scripts].”
Similarly, Phil Clapp, CEO of the UK Cinema Association, said he would “hesitate to draw too many parallels with the almost unique set of circumstances” around Barbenheimer.
Clapp said what was actually happening right now was “something like a return to the normal pattern of major releases we saw pre-pandemic and pre- Hollywood strikes.” The successive release of Paddington in Peru, Gladiator 2, Wicked, and Moana 2 and Mufasa: The Lion King later this month, was “a hugely welcome fillip” for cinemas after a prolonged period of restricted releases.
Richards also emphasised that the standout story of this season was a return to the pre-pandemic market of film releases. Whether Glicked is a thing or not, he said, there was a huge buzz and fans were flocking to theatres – which was a good thing.
“It reinforces the fact that audiences are there, and we just need movies that bring them to theatres. Suddenly we’re very good value for an evening out because people are having an amazing time and want to come back.”