Mr Viral
Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures
Though both “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” came in slightly under projections in their opening box-office weekend, it didn’t stop the overall box-office hitting the kind of high it hasn’t seen in ages.
It may not have been a Barbenheimer, but Glicked helped power the overall domestic box-office weekend to $205 million. If that estimate holds, it’ll be the biggest pre-Thanksgiving weekend haul since “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” helped push the marketplace to $226.5 million.
Both films were responsible for around 4 in 5 tickets sold over the weekend, “Wicked” taking in $114 million and “Gladiator II” around $55.5 million at the domestic box-office. Internationally they stand at $164 million and $220 million respectively (“Gladiator II” opened a week earlier overseas).
Both do have sizeable budgets to recover, including lavish marketing spends with “Wicked” spending $154 million and “Gladiator II” spending $118 million on global P&A alone, regardless of their respective budgets of $150 million and $250 million.
“Wicked” broke several records – the biggest domestic and global opening for a film based on a Broadway show, biggest opening for its stars and director, and the biggest global opening of 2024 for a non-sequel.
That’s not going to be the end of it though. Disney will unleash “Moana 2” in multiple markets on Wednesday, that film expected to haul in at least $125 million over the five days and very likely quite a bit more with some projections going as high as $150-175 million.
Source: Deadline
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