Wickediator: 4 Takeaways After Watching ‘Wicked’ And ‘Gladiator II’ In The Same Weekend

Would you watch Wicked and Gladiator II back-to-back?

Apparently, being the impossibly rich CEO of a global movie theater chain is not an instant ticket to paradise. You may have thought that this would translate into a stress-free existence – or, at least, one that includes obvious pleasures such as good food, a loving family, a nice house, and multiple megayachts. And yet, the CEO of AMC Theatres, Adam Aron, was apparently shi**ing bricks for all of 2024. Like, there’s no other explanation for why Aron, worth roughly $50 million, was a major drama queen about the fact that theaters experienced their biggest Thanksgiving box office weekend in history in November 2024. I mean, he called it a “national phenomenon,” as if it were as important as the return of polio or Lady Gaga’s 2017 performance at the Super Bowl.

Truly, find me one average moviegoer who cares as much about the box office as Adam Aron does and I’ll gladly give that person all of the money in my wallet (so, about $4). But you won’t! It’s only Adam Aron who cares that much. I can only assume it’s because he’s massively in debt and thus needed huge Thanksgiving revenue at AMC theaters to pay for his next Honduran spirituality retreat. Poor rich person!

In any case, it’s time to discuss the “national phenomenon” that made Adam Aron so horny. He was, of course, referring to “Mowadiator,” which is my affectionate term for the three-headed cinematic monster of Moana 2, Gladiator 2, and Wicked. All three of these movies struck gold at the box office in 2024. While I did not see Moana 2 before writing this, I did see the one-two punch of “Wah-diator” (the “wah” is pronounced like a baby crying), and I have four takeaways.

1. A movie doesn’t need to look “realistic” to make us care

The director of Wicked, John M. Chu, is maybe not perfect. Just look at his directing track record on Rotten Tomatoes: It’s almost 100% green until his last few movies. Granted, those last movies have been lovely, but all I’m saying is that he’s probably going to mess up sometimes. (I mean, I’m not judging; I can relate.)

Anyway, he made at least one major misstep on Wicked by backlighting and overexposing many of his movie’s frames. He did this with the stated goal of making us care more about Elpheba and Glinda by making their world seem more realistic. However, it mostly just looks ugly. On the other hand, Gladiator 2 made me care about its main character without resorting to distracting visual trickery; in fact, many scenes are stuffed to the gills with color and superfluous details. In any case, both movies are obviously fiction, and no one would have faulted John M. Chu for making his movie about a green, levitating sorceress look like, well, fantasy.

2. Prequels and sequels are only great when they tell an original story

The genius of Wicked’s core story isn’t just its political allegory, though its Bush-era cynicism is still very relevant today. Its genius also comes from its original source novel, which reimagined the Wicked Witch of the West and conceived an entire fantasy world complete with its own government, traditions, and language. In other words, Wicked tells an original story. Gladiator 2, on the other hand, is simply a continuation of Gladiator – and, in many ways, a retelling of the same narrative. Only one of these movies gave me chills, and it’s the one that took creative risks.

3. Movies with queer characters are immediately better

Gladiator 2 technically has queer people in it. Denzel Washington’s character Macrinus alludes to occasional bisexual dalliances, and the movie’s deranged syphilitic Emperor Caracalla touches a male prostitute at one point. (I love seeing myself represented on screen.) However, these characters are, respectively, evil and demented, and director Ridley Scott has edited out the movie’s one gay kiss.

Wicked, on the other hand, features Bowen Yang in a near scene-stealing role as Glinda’s sassy gay sidekick Pfannee, and while he never snags himself a boyfriend in the movie, he’s obviously queer and far more hilarious than Gladiator 2’s tiny teenager with syphilis. Anyway, queer people spice things up, and movies shouldn’t erase them. 

4. Big movies should be seen in big theaters

I recently interviewed a Professor of Media Studies who made a great point about the modern appeal of moviegoing. He said that we still go to movies because they allow us to disconnect. There are few remaining moments in life where we don’t have our phone and computer screens distracting us; and yet, movies ask us to focus all our attention on just one screen, immersing us in a world that TikTok could never conjure. So, yeah. Keep going to the movies. After all, Adam Aron might need to feed his children soon.