Universal’s film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, Wicked , is arriving five days earlier than planned. The film starring Ariana Grande as Glinda the Good Witch was set to go head-to-head against Moana 2 on Wednesday, November 27, the day before Thanksgiving, but will now release on Friday, November 22. With Disney ’s Moana sequel and Wicked likely to attract a similar demographic, the latter will now face off against Ridley Scott ’s epic Gladiator II, starring Paul Mescal .
The clash is already drawing comparisons to last year’s “Barbenheimer” event when Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer arrived on the same day. As with Wicked and Gladiator II , both films were largely aimed at opposite sexes; however, many people committed to seeing the films one after the other as part of a self-curated double bill. The result was a global phenomenon that breathed new life into theaters across the world.
Barbie became the biggest film of the year, amassing takings of $1.45bn (£1.15bn), while Oppenheimer earned $953.
7m (£759.9m) to become the highest-grossing biopic of all time, surpassing Bohemian Rhapsody . Meanwhile, Oppenheimer dominated awards season, winning seven Oscars.
The on-screen Wicked story will be split into two parts , with the sequel, Wicked: Part Two , to be released in November 2025. The film’s teaser trailer dropped during the Super Bowl last year and quickly amassed more than 230 million views online. Cynthia Erivo plays.
