Box office: a record-breaking juggernaut Wicked outclasses Gladiator 2

Forget Barbenheimer, here's Glicked! In a repeat of the double exit barbie / Oppenheimer of July 2023, the American box office once again delivered a major confrontation between two blockbusters: Wicked And Gladiator 2. And it was the musical that came out on top, breaking several records at the same time. We take stock.

The great return of music?

The film adaptation of the Broadway musical, itself based on The Wizard of Oz by Lyman Frank Baum, recorded a colossal first weekend at $114 million, collected on 3,888 American screens. Wicked is the third biggest startup of 2024, behind Deadpool & Wolverine (211.4 million) and Vice-Versa 2 (154 million).

The film starring Arian Grande and Cynthia Erivo marks the 4th best launch of all time for a musical, behind Disney The Lion King version 2019 (191.7 million), Beauty and the Beast (174.7 million) and Frozen 2 (130 million). Wicked also (and largely) achieves the record start for a film adapted from a Broadway play, far ahead of the old record forInto the Woods (31 million) dating from 2012.

Finally, Wicked adds 50 million internationally and peaks at 164.1 million worldwide for its first weekend, recovering the record start for a Broadway adaptation, held until now by Les Miserables (103 million). It is a major success for the Universal studio, which already has a sequel to the film in its calendar, scheduled for November 2025.

In the shadows of the world of Oz, Gladiator 2 was also launching on the American market. Ridley Scott's film collected $55.5 million for its debut. A start that many productions would welcome with pleasure, but which is below expectations for the sequel to the cult film.

For comparison, Gladiator 2 starts even worse than the original film released in 2000, and which recorded 63.8 million dollars for its first weekend, taking into account inflation.

If Gladiator 2 is a good launch for an “R-Rated” film (prohibited for under 17s) in the United States, close to the debut of John Wick 3 (58.3 million) and Bad Boys 4 (56.4 million), it has a massive budget, estimated at 250 million dollars.

The sequel is saved a little thanks to its international results, which allow it to already have a worldwide cumulative total of 221 million dollars. Next week, and the retention of American audiences, will be crucial for the film to be considered a success. To be continued.

In the rest of the box office, Red One with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Chris Evans falls to third place and adds $13.2 million to its total (-58.6%). The action comedy is holding up better than expected, but that won't be enough to cover its absurdly large budget, estimated at $250 million.

US box office from November 22 to 24, 2024 (estimates)