Wicked And Gladiator II Power Strong Weekend Box Office Before Holiday

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Posted in: Box Office, Movies | Tagged: Gladiator 2, moana 2, Weekend Box Office, wicked

Wicked And Gladiator II Power Strong Weekend Box Office Before Holiday

Wicked and Gladiator II sent the weekend box office soaring ahead of the holiday weekend, breaking some records along the way.

Published Mon, 25 Nov 2024 15:02:08 -0600
by Jeremy Konrad
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Article Summary

  • Wicked leads the weekend box office, earning $114M, the top debut for a Broadway musical film.
  • Gladiator II hits $55.5M, the highest November start for an R-rated film, complementing Wicked.
  • Weekend box office totals $204M, the best pre-Thanksgiving since Frozen 2.
  • Upcoming: Moana 2 poised for a record-breaking Thanksgiving opening, eyes $128M debut.

Wicked and Gladiator II came in a smidge under tracking, but both still propelled the weekend box office before the holiday this week to big heights. In fact, the total box office of $204 million is the highest weekend before Thanksgiving in 11 years and the highest since Frozen 2 opened in 2019. Wicked takes the top spot, as expected, with $114 million. That is the third-highest opening of the year, the highest non-sequel opening of the year, and the biggest opening for a film version of a Broadway musical ever. An opening of over $100 million was always assured, but the story of Wicked will be told by how it holds up through the holidays.

Cynthia Erivo is Elphaba in WICKED, directed by Jon M. Chu. Credit: Universal Pictures © Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Wicked Rules, As Expected

Wicked was counterprogrammed by Gladiator II, and audiences came out for that one as well. It starts here in the US with $55.5 million. That makes it the highest debut for an R-rated film in November, a great outcome for Paramount as this also looks to have legs through the next few weeks of the holiday season. Neither will be number one this holiday weekend, but more on that later. Third place went to Red One, which dropped big time, down -59% to $13.2 million. That was expected in the face of the combo it was going up against. Fourth place goes to Angel Studios' film Bonehoeffer with $5.1 million, and rounding out the top five was Venom: The Last Dance with $4 million.

The weekend box office top five for November 22nd:

  1. Wicked- $114 million
  2. Gladiator II- $55.5 million
  3. Red One- $$13.2 million
  4. Bonehoeffer- $5.1 million
  5. Venom: The Last Dance- $4 million
JOURNEY TO THE FAR SEAS — In Walt Disney Animation Studios' all-new feature film "Moana 2," Moana (voice of Auli'i Cravalho) must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she's ever faced. Directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller, and produced by Christina Chen and Yvett Merino, "Moana 2" features music by Grammy® winners Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, Grammy nominee Opetaia Foa'i, and three-time Grammy winner Mark Mancina. The all-new feature film opens in theaters on Nov. 27, 2024. © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Next weekend is one of the biggest box office weekends of the year, and on top of the second weekend of Wicked and Gladiator II being strong, Disney opens Moana 2 everywhere. Moana will definitely be number one, but how high will it be? Can it beat Frozen 2? That would make it the highest opening for Thanksgiving all-time. I will say yes and that Moana 2 will open to $128 million, a massive number. Wicked places second and holds with only a -30% drop, and Gladiator finishes third. We may just see the biggest Thanksgiving weekend box office ever.

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