From Charlie:

Looks like $10M+ previews for #Wicked, including early shows ~$17M. Outstanding initial audience reception. Expecting $105-125M weekend.

Looks like $6M+ previews for #Gladiator2. Initial audience reception good. Expecting $55-60M weekend.

Feeling rush this weekend will be higher for Wicked, with more walk ups for Gladiator so maybe they'll be closer afterall...at least OW.

Good for Gladiator, but disappointing for Wicked. The long runtimes might have people waiting for the weekend.

Seems like it. 46 min longer than Barbie it's scheduled viewing so will probably be spread across its first 11 days.

Hopefully Wicked hits the high end of that.

Wicked will have strong legs so not overly concerned. I think $120m is still in play.

Yeah Wicked can still be huge if it plays well through the holidays.

Anything above 100m for Wicked is excellent.

Gladiator II is a crap film. Even if it opens well, it will fall off a cliff when WOM gets out.

19 for wicked, 6.5 for gladiator

I'm all for big opening days, but the "Friday" number that they report tomorrow will have components of 4 different days in it for Wicked?

Monday: Amazon previews $2.5M @ 750 theaters
Wednesday: Advanced screenings $5.7M @2000 theaters
Thursday: Standard previews $11M @3300 theaters
Friday: TBD @3888 theaters

Why not say it opened on Sat for a 2 day opening while we're at it and say Friday's number was weekend previews?

Red One dropped decently well on Thursday (-26%) so it should hold decently this weekend even with Wicked and Gladiator 2. A good recovery though we probably are too far off from catching up to last year ($889M behind).

Wicked is probably gonna be really frontloaded. Thinking it'll syart having good holds weekend after Thanksgiving.

Are they really gonna report those 4 days numbers as a friday number for wicked?

Once again when I have a pessimistic gut feeling it proves to be right. But flip side I did make the prediction it would have great legs and I am sticking to that so there is hope

I'd bet money that's not going to be the case . I've heard that it's a crowd-pleaser from a few people, and the Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes is currently 84%. I'm assuming CinemaScore will be a B+ or A-.

I feel like B+ isn’t all that great. Like it’s not bad but not one that will generate great legs

The male appeal for Wicked is lower than Barbie. Bros could relate to Gosling and find Robbie hot.

Early Deadline #s:
Wicked - 48.5m with all previews
Gladiator - 23.5

The Saturday drop for Wicked will be interesting. Hopefully families come out and soften the potential drop.

I would disagree with this. Wicked is more a movie that happens to have women main characters, whereas Barbie the fact that they're women is the whole point.

You could have the Wicked Warlock of the West and Glen the Good Warlock of the North and the plot wouldn't change much.

Wicked has been sold as a movie about two female friends, who started on opposite sides, became friends, and at the end of the movie they separate. Barbie has been sold as a movie where Barbie enters the real world where Ken tags along. I think more men will watch Barbie because at least men can watch Ken struggle in the real world. I believe 66.2% of Barbie's audience is female. For Wicked, I think 70% or more of the audience will be female.

I’ll be absolutely shocked if it skews that female.

Even if there are more female fans of Wicked there are husbands and boyfriends who are drug along.

The Gerwig/Baumbach/Robbie/Gosling combo was very appealing for people who care about such things. Wicked has John M Chu (known for musicals), Cynthia Erivio (known for musicals) and Ariana Grande (known for music.) Its really just hammering one market. So the fact its opening to over $100M 3 day (+ another 20 from early screenings) is remarkable and doesn't really need any second guessing.

Mmm it would be shocking if males made up more than 45% of Wicked's audience. Unfortunately gay men don't make up that much of the population

Not denying it’ll skew female but don’t see any reason for it to see significantly higher female interest than Barbie.

Did the Teilight movies even reach 70% female?

Violent movies generally get a B+ at best. Some movies with that score or less have good/great legs. With no competition, that would be more than enough to keep it around into the new year. However, it looks like it received a B, and I'll admit, that's not very good. I still think it should hold up fine though. Awards buzz might help as Denzel is sure to get nominated, if not win, plus it will have technical nominations.

Here are some hit movies with good legs with a CS of B+ or less (I started compiling one before seeing the CS was lower than a B+). I tried to only include ones with good legs. Hopefully Gladiator can follow in the footsteps of Inception, which did almost 300 Million.

Split - B+
Joker - B+
Bridesmaids - B+
Knocked Up - B+
The Revenant - B+
Wanted - B+
American Gangster - B+
Inception - B+
A Quiet Place - B+
Arrival - B+
It - B+
American Hustle - B+
Horrible Bosses - B+
True Grit - B+
Borat - B+
Mr. & Mrs. Smith - B+
The Ring - B
Gone Girl - B
The Devil Wears Prada - B
Scary Movie - B-
Smile - B-
Shutter Island - C+
Blair Witch Project - C+