‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ jump-start the box office, but at a cost

LOS ANGELES – Hollywood was back this weekend to where it desperately hungers to be – at the center of global culture.

Women flocked to the PG-rated “Wicked,” a lavish adaptation of Act One of the popular Broadway musical, while men supported “Gladiator II,” an R-rated sequel 24 years in the making. Together, the two big-budget movies sold an estimated $384 million in tickets worldwide, bringing the box office back to life after months of audience indifference. Going into the weekend, ticket sales were down about 11% from last year in the United States and Canada – and 27% compared with before the pandemic.

“Wicked” was No. 1 in North America, with sales from Friday through Sunday of roughly $95 million from 3,888 theaters, for a total since opening in previews earlier in the week of $114 million. That sum made “Wicked” the third-highest opener for the year, behind $211 million for “Deadpool & Wolverine” and $154 million for “Inside Out 2.” (Overseas, “Wicked” was expected to collect an additional $48 million.)

Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II” collected about $56 million in North America, including previews, for a worldwide total since arriving in overseas release earlier this month of about $220 million.

“This weekend’s two strong openers are invigorating a box office that fell apart after a good summer,” said David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter on box office numbers.

But the bounce came at a steep price. To convince people that “Wicked” was worth a trip to the multiplex, Universal Pictures mounted one of the largest marketing campaigns in Hollywood history. The no-expense-spared effort started in February at the Super Bowl and did not let up, leaving some competing studio marketers slack-jawed.

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who star in “Wicked,” were omnipresent at the Summer Olympics. NBC broadcast an hourlong infomercial about the movie. Universal theme parks pounded promotional drums. The “Today” show chipped in blanket coverage. Universal Pictures, which is part of the NBCUniversal media conglomerate, secured more than 400 brand partnerships for the film, resulting in “Wicked” dolls from Mattel, “Wicked” drinks at Starbucks, “Wicked” LEGO sets, and “Wicked” cardigans at Target, just to name four. Erivo and Grande gave so many interviews that they seemed, at times, to be nearing a breaking point.

The marketing onslaught is not over: The movie will have a “significant” presence Thursday at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC, Universal said. “Wicked: Part Two” is scheduled for release next year, so get comfy with “Wicked” everything. Together, the two movies will easily cost more than $500 million to make and market.

Is this now what it takes to fill theaters? Movies, especially ones like “Wicked,” a mega-spectacle with mega-reviews based on a mega-musical, used to be able to commandeer the culture by themselves.

“Sadly, filmgoing has fallen further and further down the leisure-time priority list, and the best hope studios have is to manufacture a cultural event,” Stephen Galloway, the dean of Chapman University’s film school, said in an email.

He added of brand partnerships: “There’s a kind of irony here. To show the world you’re unique and different, you turn to businesses that promise customers their products are just the same.”

“Gladiator II,” which cost Paramount Pictures at least $350 million to make and market, was also given a hard sell, despite being a well-reviewed sequel to a blockbuster that won the prize for best picture at the 2001 Oscars and has remained popular on home video. To generate interest in “Gladiator II,” Paramount Pictures advertised heavily at sporting events; staged premieres in Australia, Japan, Ireland, France, Denmark, Britain and the United States; set up extensive partnerships with Ferrari and Pepsi; and simultaneously debuted a final 60-second trailer for the film on more than 4,000 television networks, digital platforms, local stations, Spanish-language outlets and radio stations.

“Wicked,” directed by Jon M. Chu, easily set a domestic box office record for the biggest opening of a live-action musical. The record is currently held by “Hairspray,” which arrived to $43 million in domestic ticket sales in 2007, after adjusting for inflation. (The Hollywood record books only go back to the 1970s.)

About 72% of ticket buyers for “Wicked” were female, according to PostTrak, an exit polling service, meaning that Universal’s attempt to convince men that a glittery, two-hour-and-40-minute musical was worth their time was not entirely successful. Deadline, an entertainment trade news site, estimated Thursday that “Wicked” was on track to take in between $130 million and $150 million in tickets in North America over the weekend.

Some 60% of “Gladiator II” ticket buyers were male, according to PostTrak. Paramount was thrilled with the demographic breakdown, noting that roughly half of ticket buyers were younger than 35, a sign that the sequel had reached a new generation while maintaining the legacy audience.

To some degree, “Wicked” helped fuel “Gladiator II” and vice versa, with their simultaneous release in the United States and Canada nicknamed “Glicked,” and movie fans – captivated by their wild incongruity – taking in double features and dressing in elaborate costumes. Box office analysts said the effect was minimal, however, at least compared with “Barbenheimer” last year, when hundreds of thousands of moviegoers paid to see “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” in back-to-back screenings.

Both “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” amounted to cinematic comfort food – escapist, over-the-top stories that allowed Americans to leave behind a bruising presidential campaign and the continuing impact of inflation. People reach for nostalgia in times of stress, and movies that remind audiences of the past have been succeeding. Examples include “Wonka,” “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” “Twisters” and now “Wicked,” with its roots in “The Wizard of Oz,” and “Gladiator II,” with its sandals and swords.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.