Movie Monday: ‘Wicked’ Has Oz-um Opening, Best TV Shows to Binge Watch

Two heavyweight films strode into the Cineplex this weekend: Gladiator II and Wicked: Part 1. And some wondered whether “Glicked,” or “Wickiator,” or whatever you want to call it, might meet with the same success as Barbenheimer (a mashup of Barbie and Oppenheimer) saw last year.

Well, the box-office returns haven’t been quite that great. But still, both Wicked and Gladiator II conducted themselves just fine.

Domestically, Wicked flew to a most magical debut. It earned a staggering $114 million in North America, according to early estimates—the biggest opening ever for a Broadway adaptation, and the highest opening for a non-sequel in 2024. It’s already the year’s 15^th highest-grossing film—and it’s been in theaters just a little more than three days. Much like its protagonist, Wicked is painted green.

Gladiator II wasn’t nearly the stateside powerhouse that Wicked was this weekend. Indeed, the swords-and-sandals sequel earned less than half of what the record-setting musical did domestically: $55.5 million.

Still, that’s hardly a slow start. And when you eye the worldwide box office, Gladiator II was the cinematic champ: Add in the $165.5 million it earned overseas, and Gladiator II’s global box office stands at a very healthy $221 million. Wicked, by comparison, earned just about $50.2 million internationally, pushing its worldwide weekend total to $164.2 million.

Red One, last weekend’s champ, managed to hold on to third place, gathering up another $13.3 million. That pushes the holiday film’s total to $52.9 million—which, given its $250 million price tag, keeps Red One appropriately in the red.

Angel Studios’ latest faith-based work—Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.—took fourth place with $5.1 million. That pushed it just a tooth ahead of Venom: The Last Dance, which finished fifth with $4 million. The Last Dance has now earned $133.8 million domestically overall, and $456.4 million worldwide.

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