The New Barbenheimer? Hello, Glicked

Since the joint release of Barbie and Oppenheimer in July 2023 led to scores of people seeing both blockbusters in a double bill, social media users have been looking for a repeat of the Barbenheimer phenomenon. "Saw Patrol," the portmanteau title given to the joint release of PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie and Saw X in October 2023, didn't quite fit the bill, as Lindsey Bahr writes at the AP. But "Glicked" just might. Friday marks the joint release of Wicked (Universal), based on the hit Broadway musical, and Gladiator II (Paramount), the long-awaited sequel to the 2000 film that won the Oscar for Best Picture. The "one-name titles, opposite tones and aesthetics, and big blockbuster energy" all seem in favor of a recurrence, Bahr writes.

WBUR's Sean Burns sees similarities. "A candy-colored phenomenon beloved by women of all ages is making its big-screen debut on the same day as a violent, R-rated historical epic with far more masculine appeal," he writes. But this is no Barbenheimer, he adds, noting that while Barbie and Oppenheimer were "two smart, non-sequel blockbusters that were actually about something, both made at an exceptionally high level of craft," Wicked and Gladiator II "aren't that great." For starters, Wicked, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, is a 160-minute half-movie, covering only the first part of the 165-minute Wicked play, Burns notes.

Wicked has an impressive 90% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Kyle Smith at the Wall Street Journal calling it "the most entertaining film of the year." Gladiator II, starring Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington, has a lesser 71% rating, but it's widely described as enjoyable. "You can almost hear director Ridley Scott shouting, 'Are you not entertained?' writes Emily Zemmler at the Observer. Despite that, the Guardian concludes the Glicked hype might be "a way to convince people to see twice as many films as they wanted." "But, look, cinemas are hurting at the moment," it adds. "People just don't go out to see films in the numbers they used to and if a gimmick like this gets people through the door, what's wrong with that?" (More movies stories.)