Do you plan to get Glicked this weekend?

Universal and Paramount may be hoping to pick up some of the free publicity given to both the Barbie movie and Oppenheimer when they opened on the same day back in July of 2023, or maybe it’s just the entertainment press creating a story out of nothing, but either way, expect to hear the titles Wicked and Gladiator awkwardly conjoined this weekend.

Could the movie combo be called Wickiator instead? Eh, perhaps Glicked is the better option. Brace yourselves, though, for the battle of the gender-aligned films as both vie for the number one slot at the box office come Sunday night.

According to Deadline, which published an article full of box office prognostications, the feature film version of the Broadway musical Wicked, will broadly appeal to women and should gross somewhere between $125 million and $150 million domestically this weekend, with another $40M-$50M coming in from everywhere else in the world.

Deadline‘s predictions for the Gladiator sequel, which is booked in 300 fewer theaters than Wicked is scheduled to play in, were more modest; Gladiator II has a $60M+ opening forecast here in the U.S, but that will make it the biggest opening for an R-rated movie in November, and best ever three-day total for director Ridley Scott and star Denzel Washington, so there’s that.

The predictions are based on the first-day presales for Wicked, currently breaking records against its reported $145 million budget. Gladiator II, meanwhile, with a budget estimated somewhere between $210 million and $300 million opened internationally last week well above projections, taking in $87M so far.

Neither Paramount nor Universal, which was the studio behind Oppenheimer, have leaned into the Glicked phenomenon, if there is one, whereas last year, in the run-up to the release of Barbie and Oppenheimer, Barbenheimer merch, memes, and news was everywhere.

Still, those tracking ticket sales this weekend are paying attention. “There’s a little bit of a Barbie moment going on with Wicked in terms of pre-sales,” one industry insider told Deadline. “They just keep going up and up with tracking numbers through the roof.” Quorum, the box office data-minding service, reports that Wicked ranks as the firm’s most highest-tracked title in its post-Covid run with 70% total awareness.

It seems that theater owners are promoting both films separately too. Cinema chain B&B Theaters is rolling out pink and green carpets for the signature colors of Wicked, with employees dressed up as Elphaba and Glinda, the characters played by stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, respectively. For Gladiator II, which also stars Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal, theater owners may dress a few employees as Roman warriors, but for the most part their promotional push is toward a themed popcorn bucket.

It’s worth noting that both new movies are based on existing properties; Wicked was a book series made into a smash Broadway musical, and Gladiator II is the sequel to the 2000 Russell Crowe hit. Both Barbie and Oppenheimer were original IPs.

This battle of the sexes, unlike the last major competition between a man and a woman for the most important job in the world, obviously has much lower stakes, but in an ever more fractured social media climate pitting the bros against the babes, there may be reason for one group to celebrate come Monday morning.