‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ make gravity-defying debuts at the weekend box office

nypost.com:

“Wicked” and “Gladiator II” breathed fresh life into a box office that has struggled lately, leading to one of the busiest moviegoing weekends of the year.Jon M.

Chu’s lavish big-budget musical “Wicked,” starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, debuted with $114 million domestically and $164.2 million globally for Universal Pictures, according to studio estimates Sunday.That made it the third-biggest opening weekend of the year, behind only “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Inside Out 2.” It’s also a record for a Broadway musical adaptation.Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II,” a sequel to his 2000 best picture-winning original, launched with $55.5 million in ticket sales.With a price tag of around $250 million to produce it, “Gladiator II” was a big bet by Paramount Pictures to return to the Coliseum with a largely new cast, led by Denzel Washington and Paul Mescal.While it opened with a touch less than the $60 million predicted in domestic ticket sales, “Gladiator II” has performed well overseas.

It added $50.5 million internationally.Going into the weekend, box office was down about 11% from last year and some 25% from pre-pandemic times.That meant this week’s two headline films led a much-needed resurgence for theaters.

With “Moana 2” releasing Wednesday, Hollywood might be looking at historic sales over the Thanksgiving holiday.“This weekend’s two strong openers are invigorating a box office that fell apart after a good summer,” said David A.