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Posters for \'Wicked\' and \'Gladiator 2\'
Posters for \'Wicked\' and \'Gladiator 2\'
Universal Pictures/ Paramount Pictures
Culture > Entertainment

Twitter Is Popping Off About ‘Wicked’ & ‘Gladiator 2’ Being The Barbenheimer of 2024

Updated Published
Leia Mendoza

I don’t think I’ll ever recover from 2023’s biggest films, Barbie and Oppenheimer, aka Barbenheimer. After the large amounts of pink and brown, yelling “Hi Barbie” to everyone on opening weekend, and seeing Cillian Murphy on the big screen, I have been changed as a person. Not only did the entire world fall head over heels for Barbenheimer, but it’s clear that a phenomenon had taken over the film industry. Now, it seems like upcoming movies have taken note of Barbenheimer’s success. 

Who knew that a plastic doll and the father of the atomic bomb could pave the way for the next big event of 2024: Wicked & Gladiator 2? Get your diamond wands and start thinking about the Roman Empire, we’re very much here for this new crossover. 

In case you’re confused about what this means, I’ll catch you up. Originally, Wicked was set to premiere in theaters on November 27, 2024. The film will follow a young witch named Elphaba (Cynthia Ervio) who begins a friendship with Glinda (Ariana Grande), a sorceress, during their time at Shiz University. The film was expected to be a holiday release, which fans have been anticipating for almost 2 decades. However, Wicked moved its release date up to November 22, 2024, falling on the same day another film that is guaranteed to have audiences excited, Gladiator 2. 

Gladiator 2 is the sequel to Gladiator, which follows Lucius (Paul Mescal) who trains to become a gladiator after a Roman general named Marcus Acacius begins to take over Lucius’ home. Lucius has to  fight off and deal with emperor brothers Caracalla (Joseph Quinn) and Geta (Fred Hechinger) on his quest to save his land. 

With some of our favorite actors in both of these films, fans have already voiced their excitement for these releases. 

Even Jon M. Chu, the director of Wicked, has voiced his excitement about the November 22 double feature. 

Now that the release date has moved up, we’re already planning on how to celebrate this double feature. Will we see people in green and pink Gladiator-inspired outfits? We can already imagine there being a crossover between actors like Grande and Mescal at some point, and especially with the star power of both casts, the possibilities are endless. We may still have a long way to go until we get to see Wicked and Gladiator 2, but we are definitely going to be seated until further notice. 

Leia Mendoza

TX State '24

Leia Mendoza is a national entertainment & culture correspondent and writer at Her Campus, where she writes and talks about the latest entertainment news and pop culture updates. As well as updating timely news, she covers a broad aspect of film, television and music for Her Campus Media. She is also a contributor to Offscreen Central, where she covers award shows and future Oscar contenders. In 2024, she created Director Brat, a website centered around film and television reviews and exclusive industry interviews for the next generation of creatives. In addition, she is a Film Production and Fashion Merchandising student at Texas State University. In the past, she has covered events conducted by Texas State University, Austin Film Festival's On Story, & SXSW. She has conducted interviews for Paramount, MGM, and A24. You can find her in her spare time talking about bridging the worlds of film and fashion together, cinema preservation, indie darlings, and fabulous shopping sequences.