New release dates for Wicked and Gladiator 2 set this year’s Barbenheimer

Universal Pictures has postponed the release date of its lavish musical Evil moved forward by a few days, from November 27th (the day before Thanksgiving) to the previous Friday, November 22nd.

The move is supposedly and sensibly intended to avoid a conflict with Disney’s animated sequel. Vaiana 2 – The Great Adventurealso scheduled for November 27. Universal may have been motivated (read: scared) by the amazing box office results of Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out 2which has accumulated over 1 billion US dollars worldwide in just over two weeks, setting a new record for an animated film.

But the change of date also leads to another, possibly more exciting conflict: Evilstarring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, will now be released on the same day as Ridley Scott’s historical action drama Gladiator IIwith Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal. Evil is the first part of a two-part adaptation of the successful stage musical, which anticipates the 1939 classic The Wizard of Ozand tells the background story of the witches. Gladiator II is a sequel to Scott’s Oscar-winning epic from 2000. (Vanity Fair just published a surprisingly substantial preview from Gladiator IIwhich is packed with first images, plot details and good quotes from Scott and the cast; it’s worth a look.)

The competition between these two films immediately brings to mind “Barbenheimer,” the box office phenomenon of 2023, in which Greta Gerwig’s candy-colored comedy Barbie

against Christopher Nolan’s dark atom bomb drama OppenheimerThis scheduling clash sparked a storm of publicity and a sort of unofficial cinema festival that benefited both films, which closed 2023 as the biggest and third biggest films of the year worldwide.

The cinema owners will, if nothing else, wish for something similar from Evil And Gladiator IIbut this time the contrast is not quite as striking. It is true that one is a colourful, imaginative stage musical with female characters, while the other is a brutal action film with many male actors.

But both are big, old-fashioned spectacles with the flavor of old Hollywood, and the contrast between them isn’t as stark (or as funny) as it is between a toy-style metacomedy and a three-hour biopic about physics and the nuclear holocaust. Evil

And Gladiator II are both franchise films based on brand recognition, while Barbie And Oppenheimer are both daring, original films by auteur directors.

And it’s hard to find a compound name for them that rolls off the tongue as easily as “Barbenheimer.” Gladicked? Certainly not. The best I can think of is “Wickiator.”

None of this is as important as what Evil And Gladiator II have in common with Barbie And OppenheimerBut: Both films look exciting and offer compelling reasons to see them on the big screen. They complement each other in an entertaining way and will be well received by audiences. It will be an entertaining November.