Although it isn’t putting up the kinds of numbers that Wicked and Moana 2 are, Gladiator II continues to represent a respectable third-place finisher, earning $12.4 million on Black Friday. This is shaping up to be one of the best box office weekends in ...

The trifecta of 'Moana 2', 'Wicked' and 'Gladiator II' is ending Black Friday to a record $109M gross as ticketing sites get backlogged.

“Wicked” collected an additional $50.2 million at the international box office, bringing its global tally to $164.2 million. It marks the biggest worldwide opening for a film based on a Broadway show, supplanting another Universal musical, “Les Miserables,” with $103 million in 2012.

The pair of films did huge business as Thanksgiving gets underway in the United States. Globally, the movies have earned $162.5 million and $220.5 million, respectively.

Battling a 27 percent decline in domestic ticket sales compared with before the pandemic, studios left no marketing drum unthumped in releasing the movies.

Both Wicked and Gladiator 2 have been huge successes both critically and commercially, but one project is clearly outshining the other.

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s "Wicked" dominates Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington’s “Gladiator II” this weekend at the domestic box office.

Following a sluggish year at the box office, “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” opened this weekend with combined earnings of $270 million internationally, providing the box office with much-needed rejuvenation as the busiest moviegoing weekend of the year, per Box Office Mojo.

The big splash continues for Disney’s “Moana 2,” which earned a massive $54.5 million on Black Friday from 4,200 locations, shattering the $34.1 million record that was notched by “Frozen II” in 2019.