Universal Pictures’ ‘Wicked’ and Paramount Pictures’ ‘Gladiator II’ post impressive numbers at the domestic box office this weekend.
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.
