Movie fans may be excited to see “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” this weekend, but they aren’t exactly thrilled about how the media is hyping up the convergence of tentpole films.
Many media outlets, including CNN, The New York Times and The Associated Press, have referred to the same-day opening of “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” as “Glicked” in an attempt to match the “Barbenheimer” craze of August 2023.
This isn’t the first time that the media and marketers have tried to capture that magic — as last year’s failed attempt to brand the openings of “Paw Patrol” and the latest “Saw” sequel “Saw Patrol” amply demonstrates.
Still, faced with possible branding alternatives like “Wickiator,” “Wadiator,” “Gladwick” and “Gladicked,” a few people close to the films seemed to be leaning toward “Glicked.”
“‘Glicked’ rolls off the tongue a little bit more,” actor Fred Hechinger told the AP at the New York screening of “Gladiator II” this week. “I think we should all band around ‘Glicked.’ It gets too confusing if you have four or five different names for it.”
“Wicked” stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo both say they “are OK” with the “Glicked” branding, according to Entertainment Tonight, and Grande said she prefers it to some of the other terms bandied about.
But many people on social media aren’t remotely on board.
In fact, some commenters quoted the famous line from the 2004 film “Mean Girls” and demanded that the responsible parties “stop trying to make ‘Glicked’ happen.”
Barbenheimer was an organic, audience-driven grassroots movement. “Glicked” is a forced, hollow, top-down attempt at corporate relatability. https://t.co/hYBNiAkXN0
— ian :D (@ianspencer95) November 21, 2024Looks like that #Glicked did not happen like Barbenheimer at all, because Wicked just destroying Gladiator 2 to the ground.
Somebody should’ve tell Uncle Ridley to not make a sequel to Gladiator in the first place. This is pure humiliation. 😁
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We're really calling a Gladiator 2 and Wicked double-feature "Glicked" and not "Wikiator?" Of all the stupid things I've seen recently, this is... well, comparatively not that big of a deal, but I'm going to complain about it anyway.
— Adam (@yatzen.bsky.social) 2024-11-22T20:52:59.764Z
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English (US) ·