Wicked and Gladiator II have finally hit the big screen in the domestic market, making for one of the biggest box office weekends for the year ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday period. With the all-too-familiar combination of two movies with vastly different target audiences, the question on everyone’s lips is how to make the most of encouraging crossover, eventising the releases, and maximising box office as a result.

A new Barbenheimer?

For months leading up to their release, the common question across the industry has been whether Wicked and Gladiator II can be another Barbenheimer. While it may not have been the colossal half-billion dollar opening weekend that Barbie and Oppenheimer saw, the domestic release of Wicked and Gladiator II made of the 3rd-highest grossing weekend of the year so far in the domestic market, just behind Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine.

Not to mention, there’s certainly opportunity for movie marketers to lean into the counterprogramming and crossover potential of both movies.

The foundation for a blockbuster audience

When it comes to determining a blockbuster audience, there is one constant factor: frequency. High numbers of Infrequent* moviegoers are key to blockbuster success. After all, to bring in the biggest audience, you need to entice those moviegoers who only visit the cinema rarely as well as the frequent cinema fans.

Both Wicked and Gladiator II saw an above-benchmark majority of their opening weekend audiences comprised of Infrequent and Occasional moviegoers. Wicked in particular drew just over three quarters of its audience from these less frequent categories, at a combined 76% (42% infrequent and 34% occasional).

Interestingly, this is almost identical to the frequency breakdown seen by Barbie’s opening weekend audience in 2023, with Barbie showing the most similar audience to Wicked overall.

On the other side, Gladiator II also saw above-benchmark Infrequent attendance, at 31% compared to the benchmark 27% for an opening weekend. However, Gladiator II also saw a spike among the most frequent moviegoers, with those Very Frequent moviegoers comprising 7% of the opening audience compared to a benchmark 4%.

Differentiation and crossover potential

Where Wicked and Gladiator II predictably differed was in the gender split — a 59% female audience for Wicked and a 64% male audience for Gladiator II — but it wasn’t the only notable difference.

Group visitation looked very different across the two movies in the opening weekend. Where Gladiator II outperformed in solo ticket purchases, Wicked proved to truly be a group event. 10% of Wicked’s opening weekend audience went in groups of 5+, which is double the benchmark for all movies, and 27% went in groups of 3-4 compared to a benchmark of 20%.

Once again this aligns Wicked with Barbie’s audience metrics, but it highlights an opportunity for movie marketers to encourage greater group visitation for Gladiator II.

Group visitation was a huge part of the Barbenheimer phenomenon’s success, so encouraging big groups and eventisation of the paired movies will be key to cinemas trying to make the most of crossover potential. We’ve seen great success from cinemas who embraced eventising the releases through decoration, dress-up, competitions, and sharing moviegoer-generated content across their channels.

Maximizing the Thanksgiving weekend

For even more insights into the audiences, sentiment, and box office analysis of Wicked and Gladiator II, tune in to this week’s instalment of Behind the Screens. Lauren Greene, our resident UK expert, provided us with all manner of marketing recommendations to make the most of the double debut.

With Moana 2 on the horizon as well, it’s shaping up to be an even bigger box office blast this weekend, so tune in to hear our in-depth view of the pre-sales audience for Disney’s latest big screen wonder:

*Frequency is based on a moviegoer's six-month session count:

< 2 = Infrequent
2-5 = Occasional
6-25 = Frequent
26+ = Very Frequent