Glicked double bill may not match Barbenheimer buzz, experts say

Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II and Jon M Chu’s adaptation of the musical Wicked have been released a week apart in the UK and on the same day in the US. Composite: Paramount; Universal Pictures

The great Barbenheimer clash of summer 2023 – when Barbie came out on the same day as Oppenheimer – will for ever be a part of cinema history for capturing the public imagination and bringing audiences back to cinemas in droves after years of Covid-induced antipathy.

So it’s unsurprising, that in an attempt to recapture some of the excitement, fans have come up with a new portmanteau: Glicked, used to refer to the face-off between Gladiator II and Wicked this week.