Box Office: 'Wicked' Earns $19M in Previews, 'Gladiator II' Racks Up $6.5M on Thursday Alone | THR News Video - video Dailymotion

The Hollywood Reporter

Barbenheimer 2.0 is in full swing! Call it whatever you want — Glicked, Wickiator or Barbenheimer 2.0. The domestic box office is springing back to life in historic fashion thanks to the combo of Universal's musical 'Wicked' and Paramount's 'Gladiator II.'

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00:00Barbenheimer 2.0 is in full swing. The domestic box office is springing back to life in historic fashion

00:06thanks to the combo of Universal's musical Wicked and Paramount's Gladiator 2.

00:11The widely praised Wicked grossed a huge $11 million in Thursday previews from 3,300 cinemas

00:17for a total preview tally of $19.2 million. Filmmaker John M. Chu's adaptation of the

00:23popular Broadway musical boasts a high-profile cast led by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande

00:28and should score one of the top openings of all time for a musical, estimating anywhere

00:33from $85 million to $120 million, if not more. That's good news for the genre, which has a

00:39decidedly mixed record. It's also good news for Universal, which took a major gamble in splitting

00:44the film into two movies. Wicked 2 hits theaters a year from now. The $150 million film was

00:50originally set to open November 27th, the day before Thanksgiving, but moved up to build word

00:55of mouth heading into Thanksgiving week. The new date also gives it some breathing room for

00:59Disney's Moana 2, which sails into theaters on the 27th. Many have compared Wicked and Gladiator 2 to

01:05the Barbenheimer effect that was last summer's Barbie and Oppenheimer, which debuted on the same

01:10day and became a summer sensation. Directed by Ridley Scott, the $250 million Gladiator sequel

01:15opens 24 years after the first film and looks to open to a hearty $65 million. The follow-up stars

01:22Paul Meskel, Denzel Washington, and Connie Nielsen, among others.

01:25For more box office news and updates, keep watching The Hollywood Reporter News.

Box Office: 'Wicked' Earns $19M in Previews, 'Gladiator II' Racks Up $6.5M on Thursday Alone | THR News Video

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