'Wicked' and 'Gladiator II' jolt the box office with a combined $170 million

Universal Pictures’ “Wicked” needed no lessons in how to be popular at the domestic box office this weekend, opening at No. 1 to the tune of $114 million, according to studio estimates.

That’s the highest opening ever for a film based on a Broadway musical, way ahead of 2014’s “Into the Woods” ($31 million). “Wicked” smashed the same record globally, bringing in a total of $164.2 million and surpassing 2012’s “Les Misérables” ($103 million).

In second place this weekend was Paramount Pictures’ “Gladiator II,” which launched at $55.5 million in the United States and Canada — the biggest domestic opening ever for an R-rated film released in November, not adjusted for inflation.

Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the first act of Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz’s hit Broadway musical fell slightly short of recent analyst expectations in the $120-million to $140-million range, falling closer to the studio’s more modest pre-release projection of $110 million.

“Wicked” cost an estimated $150 million to make, not counting marketing.

Meanwhile, the legacy sequel to Ridley Scott’s early-aughts best picture winner came in lower than both analyst and studio projections, which ranged from $60 million to $75 million. The film had a pre-marketing budget of $250 million.

Still, the solid performances of both movies are an early, much-needed holiday gift to the movie theater industry, which has suffered a disappointing autumn thanks to critical and commercial flops such as Warner Bros.’ “Joker: Folie à Deux” and Amazon MGM Studios’ “Red One.”

“It couldn’t have come at a better time,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.

“What’s happening right now is the perfect recipe for success for movie theaters heading into 2025,” he added. “It’s how you finish the race, right?”

Rounding out the top five at the domestic box office this weekend were “Red One,” which grossed $13.28 million in its sophomore weekend for a North American total of $52.91 million; Angel Studios’ “Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin,” which debuted at $5.12 million; and Sony Pictures’ “Venom: The Last Dance,” which devoured $4 million in its fifth outing for a total of $133.83 million, according to estimates from measurement firm Comscore.

“On behalf of the people who operate movie theatres around the world, congratulations to our studio partners and the creative community for one of the most successful November weekends ever at the box office,” said Michael O’Leary, president of the National Assn. of Theatre Owners, in a statement.

“This is a tremendous catalyst for a strong box office going into December and the new year,” he said.

Arriving 21 years after its source material took Broadway by storm, “Wicked” stars Ariana Grande as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, before Dorothy and friends followed the yellow brick road to the Emerald City. The highly anticipated reframing of “The Wizard of Oz” also counts Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, Marissa Bode and Michelle Yeoh among its principal cast.

The movie’s ubiquitous rollout was fueled by an aggressive marketing campaign that saw Universal partner with 400 brands worldwide — including Starbucks, Ulta Beauty, Bloomingdales and Target — to paint the shelves Glinda pink and Elphaba green.

“Wicked” also benefited from mostly positive reviews hyping the performances of its leading sorceresses. The film received a 90% rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, and a A grade from audiences polled by CinemaScore. The audience skewed heavily female. Women accounted for 72% of the domestic opening weekend box office.

Jim Orr, head of domestic distribution at Universal Pictures, was particularly glad that “Wicked” seems to be playing pretty evenly across the country — not just over-performing in coastal regions that tend to see more traffic.

“To see certain markets like Nashville and Salt Lake City over-index like they are is very gratifying,” Orr said.

“Very encouraging to a long, healthy run at the domestic box office.”

It’s a big win for Universal and its leader Donna Langley, who was recently elevated to chair of NBCUniversal Entertainment & Studios. The Comcast-owned studio has often bet big on the musical movie genre — sometimes to great success (“Mamma Mia!” and “Les Misérables”) and other times to disastrous results (“Cats,” “Dear Evan Hansen”).

“The history of box office is littered with musicals that failed,” Dergarabedian said.

In an effort to evade the curse of the movie musical, some studios have recently concealed the show tunes when promoting titles such as Paramount’s “Mean Girls” or Warner Bros.’ “Wonka.” But this strategy has been known to backfire, and “Wicked” took the opposite approach.

“The marketing team [behind ‘Wicked’] did a fantastic job of embracing wholeheartedly — as they should — the musical aspects of this,” Dergarabedian added.

“This is a huge result for the genre and sets the bar really high.”

“Wicked Part Two,” covering the second act of the stage production, is scheduled to bow next year.

Also new to domestic theaters this weekend was “Gladiator II,” which stars Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington as dueling warriors and emperors of ancient Rome. Rounding out the main cast of the bloody historical drama are Joseph Quinn and Connie Nielsen.

The long-awaited “Gladiator” follow-up drew mixed-to-positive reviews, receiving a 71% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a B grade from audiences polled by CinemaScore.

“The fact that we were 52% under [the age of] 35 shows that we tapped into a new audience for the film, and not just in service of the legacy audience,” said Chris Aronson, head of domestic distribution at Paramount Pictures.

“That’s very heartening … of the film itself, of our marketing efforts and of its playability.”

The next major studio entry is Disney’s “Moana 2,” which opens in wide release the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.