Leave the Barbenheimer - "Wicked" and "Gladiator 2" could be the blockbuster combo of the year.

Leave the Barbenheimer - "Wicked" and "Gladiator 2" could be the blockbuster combo of the year.

Are you looking forward to the film adaptation of "Wicked" directed by John M. Chu? Good news: you can watch it sooner than you think.

The film was originally slated for release on November 27, but it is widely reported that Universal's musical film will be released five days earlier, on Friday, November 22.

This may indeed be a wise choice for the studio. On its original release date, "Wicked" would have been released at the same time as "Moana 2"; given the persistent popularity of its 2016 predecessor, Disney's latest film is bound to be a family-friendly blockbuster, especially so close to Thanksgiving.

That's not the only reason for the blockbuster success. A sequel to Ridley Scott's historical epic "Gladiator 2" is expected.

Given how different these films are, we can at least expect to see an attempt to make it 2024's answer to last year's movie event, "Verbenheimer." Fans are already pairing the two films on social media.

For those who may not have been caught up in last year's brouhaha, "Barbenheimer" was a phenomenon centered around the simultaneous release of two major 2023 films: Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" and the Christopher Nolan biopic "Oppenheimer." The two films were Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" and Christopher Nolan's biopic "Oppenheimer," both of which were released simultaneously.

Both films were released on July 21, 2023, and social media, memes, posters, and merchandise encouraged viewers to continue watching both films.

"Oppenheimer" is a three-hour epic about the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the development of the first atomic bomb. By comparison, "Barbie" is a delightfully frenetic comedy about Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling enlivens the scene) whose trip to the real world is followed by Barbie-land forever changed.

While it may sound like a joke, "Barbenheimer" was all over the place for a while and undoubtedly contributed to the huge success of both films as a campaign to encourage viewers to watch both films made them a huge hit.

"Verbenheimer" became such a big story that it has its own Wikipedia page.

If you want to re-live the Barbenheimer experience from the comfort of your couch at home, you can stream "Oppenheimer" on Prime Video and "Barbie" on Max right now.

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