Box Office: ‘Wicked’ Heads for Dazzling $100 Million Debut, ‘Gladiator II’ Aims for Muscular $65 Million

Is “Glicked” the new “Barbenheimer”? Whether “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” inspires an unorthodox double feature à la last summer’s simultaneous blockbusters “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” remains a question. Either way, there’s a box office battle brewing between Universal’s pink-and-green musical and Paramount’s bloody sword-and-sandal epic, both of which open on Friday. “Wicked,” director Jon M. Chu’s […]