It was in many ways the biggest weekend of the year as far as the box office was concerned as both "Wicked" and "Gladiator II" hit theaters, making for quite the double bill. Was it quite as big, in terms of raw numbers, as "Deadpool & Wolverine" debuting to well over $200 million over the summer? No, but it's rare that we get two movies this big that both put up big numbers releasing on the same day. The last time it happened was in 2023 when the two-headed monster of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer," unofficially dubbed Barbenheimer, both had bombshell debuts.

In the end, both of those movies were monster hits, with Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" taking in $1.44 billion and Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" taking in close to $1 billion, and to cap the whole thing off, "Oppenheimer" also won Best Picture at the Oscars. So comparing Glicked to Barbenheimer gets tricky because expectations when making such comparisons are instantly lofty. Still, with that in mind, let's see how this pair of dueling blockbusters stacks up, shall we?

"Wicked" won the battle in the U.S. with the musical taking in $112.5 million, a record for an adaptation of a pre-existing musical. It came in just a touch under the weekend estimates, which had it at $114 million. Jon M. Chu's trip to Oz also pulled in $50 million overseas for a $162.5 million global debut. Meanwhile, "Gladiator II" opened to a very respectable $55 million domestically. Ridley Scott's long-awaited sequel had already been playing since last weekend overseas, however, and has amassed $165.5 million internationally, giving it a $220.5 million running total. So, Scott's historical epic is winning the war abroad in the early going.

Neither of these films are losers. What we have is a breakout musical hit that is playing very well with women, while an R-rated, non-comic book movie for adults is breaking through with its intended audience both in the U.S. and around the world. It's a win-win for the industry, much like Barbenheimer was.