Box Office: Did Australia turn out for ‘Glicked’ this weekend?
Last week, the CEO of Hoyts Group told Mumbrella he was holding out hope for a Barbenheimer-sized success story to close out 2024, as two of the year’s biggest films, Wicked and Gladiator II, hit the big screen.
While Gladiator II was released a week early in Australia – therefore ruining the simultaneous release seen this past weekend in the US and other international markets – Wicked opened on Thursday and took more than half the national box office this weekend, bringing in a cool $8.9 million from Thursday to Sunday. The film surpassed $10.24 million, including Wednesday night preview screenings, with a total of 489,000 admissions.
According to HOYTS, Wicked was responsible for 56% of the total box office.
Gladiator II took $4.13 million over the weekend, bringing its total box office takings to $13.7 million, following a $7.6 million opening weekend, and healthy preview screenings.
The Australian box office was up 32% on last week, coming in at $15.9 million. Elsewhere, The Rock-led Christmas film, Red One, brought in $865,000 this week, bringing its cume past $5 million, while Venom: The Last Dance took $415,000, and Lee earned $193,000.
But it was Wicked and Gladiator II that had cinema-goers interesting. In America, where the two films launched this past weekend, Wicked dwarfed Gladiator II, taking US$114 million (A$174.7 million) compared to the latter’s $55.5 million (A$85 million). Globally, Wicked has taken $164 million across its opening weekend.
Last year, Barbie took $86.4 million in Australia and Oppenheimer grossed $37.8 million – around $125 million collectively– so it’s still early days for ‘Glicked’, which has taken over $21 million to date.
Still, the audience loves a good double feature – and its holiday season soon.
“There’s a desire for people to re-experience it, because it was so fun to have that kind of pop culture moment,” Damian Keogh, CEO of Hoyts Group, said of the possibility of cinema having another Barbenheimer-style cultural moment.
“I think everyone would really be hoping that it kicks off again; wanting to be a part of it, and wanting to see both the films.
“[Barbie and Oppenheimer] both played long and they dragged each other on,” he recalls.
“Collectively, I don’t know that they’ll get to the box office of Barbenheimer, but then the following week, Moana 2 comes out, where the buzz for that has been unbelievable as well.
“Collectively, those three movies absolutely have the potential to do the same kind of numbers as Barbenheimer did last year.”
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