A bountiful Thanksgiving feast is shaping up at the box office.
Universal’s musical Wicked and Paramount’s Gladiator II are tracking to open to strong numbers over the Nov. 22-23 weekend, the beginning of the lucrative holiday corridor. Leading research firm NRG shows Wicked opening to $85 million — which would be one of the biggest starts for a musical, sources with access to the data have shared with The Hollywood Reporter.
Filmmaker Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the popular Broadway musical boasts a high-profile cast led by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. The film was originally set to open Nov. 27, the day before Thanksgiving, but moved up to build word of mouth heading into Thanksgiving week. The new date also allows gives it some breathing room from Disney’s Moana 2, which sails into theaters on the 27th. (Moana 2 is likewise looking to open to big numbers, based on record advance ticket sales. It hasn’t come on NRG tracking yet.)
An early influencer screening of Wicked drew rave reactions this week. It’s the first of Chu’s two films adapting the hit musical, with part two set for Thanksgiving 2025. The stage show — originally based on the best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire — tells the untold story of the witches of Oz, with Erivo as Elphaba and Grande as Glinda. Winnie Holzman, the stage production’s book writer, wrote the screenplay for Chu’s movie with Dana Fox. Academy Award-winning composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz adapted the musical for the screen.
Directed by Ridley Scott, the Gladiator sequel opens 24 years after the first film. The follow-up stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen and Fred Hechinger, among others.
The film sees Mescal playing a grown-up Lucius Verus II, a nephew of Emperor Commodus from the original film, played by Joaquin Phoenix. Lucius returns to Rome after being forced into slavery to battle not as a ruler but as a gladiator out for revenge and power, seeking to return the glory of Rome to its people.
As with Wicked, an early screening of Gladiator II on Oct. 18 drew strong first reactions, while the first trailer released in July racked up 215 million global cross-platform views in just a few days. The original film won five Oscars and earned $465.4 million worldwide, not adjusted for inflation.
Between the three Thanksgiving tentpoles — Moana 2 could be the biggest of them all — the holiday should see the box office rebound in a major way after a rough patch due to gaps in the calendar caused by the pandemic and last year’s labor strikes.
English (US) ·