A strong opening weekend for the Wicked and Gladiator II spells good news for cinema companies AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE:AMC), Everyman Media Group PLC (AIM:EMAN) and hedge fund-owned Cineworld Group.
Wicked, the musical Wizard of Oz sequel/prequel, magicked up $270 million in box office takings around the world.
Also, Ridley Scott's Roman follow-up drummed up $106 million in weekend ticket sales.
The combined domestic US takings of the pair, dubbed 'Glicked', totalled $201.9 million over their opening weekend, a boost for the cinema industry and the studios behind the films, Universal for Wicked and Paramount Pictures for Gladiator II.
However, the pair's domestic US box office total from the weekend fell short of the record 'Barbenheimer' weekend, when Barbie and Oppenheimer bagged $245 million in the summer of 2023.
Movie theatre chains in the North America include meme stock favourite AMC Entertainment and Cinemark, as well as Toronto-listed Cineplex (TSX:CGX). In the UK, since Cineworld was delisted last year, only Everyman Media Group PLC (AIM:EMAN) is available for stock market investors to access the local market, though AMC owns the Odeon chain.
The industry is looking ahead to another major release this coming week, Walt Disney's animated musical Moana 2.
Other winners in recent weeks have included, Deadpool & Wolverine, from Disney's Marvel stable, which has made $636 million from domestic audiences and topped $1.3 billion around the globe.
A contribution from the UK, Paddington 2 has drummed up a worldwide total of over $227 million.