Column: ‘Wicked’ box office proves Hollywood needs to take family films seriously again
LA TimesEveryone is wondering if “Glicked,” the potentially record-breaking, industry-lifting pre-Thanksgiving combination of “Wicked” and “Gladiator II,” will be this year’s “Barbenheimer,” the record-breaking, industry-lifting summertime combination of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.” Could be. But it was “Barbie,” and now “Wicked,” that put a serious number of butts in seats: Universal Pictures’ musical adaptation earned $114 million at the domestic box office this weekend, leading the $55.5-million take of Paramount’s swords-and-sandals epic. And yet “Wicked,” like “Barbie” and this summer’s big hit, “Inside Out 2,” has played to enormous audiences across all kinds of demographics, not to mention generations, and no doubt included loads of families. So while it’s clever to marry, and cross-promote, films as different as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” or “Wicked” and “Gladiator II,” let’s not lose sight of which films draw the bigger audiences.
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‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ Open to $170 Million in Cinemas
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‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ jolt the box office with a combined $170 million
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Wicked box office collection day 1: Ariana Grande starrer eyes $117 million, ‘Gladiator II’ set for $60 million
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‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator’ set the stage for gravity-defying box office weekend
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