Gladiator and Wicked Kick Off Holiday Box Office

By Jordan Taylor

The holiday movie season is here, and with that comes the first big box office contenders. Gladiator 2 and Wicked are expected to be audiences first picks. Both movies open in theatres today. Gladiator 2 is the highly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed 2000's movie Gladiator. Wicked is the first of a 2 part film adaptation of the famous broadway musical. Wicked Part 2 will hit theatres next November.

Not until last summer's Barbenheimer, have studios embraced the idea of 2 big movies opening on the same day. Barbie earned $1.4 billion, while Oppenheimer earned $975 million worldwide, and won 7 Academy Awards. After the success of those 2 movies opening on the same day, many studios are looking to recapture that box office magic.

Universal opening Wicked, and Paramount opening Gladiator 2 provides perfect counter programming for audiences. Part of the appeal of last year's Barbenheimer event, was the fact that Barbie and Oppenheimer were complete opposites movies. Barbie was pink and colourful while Oppenheimer was grey and dark. Both movies benefited off of opening from one another, by how different they were. This compelled many audience members to not just watch both, but to pay to watch both movies back to back in the same day. Hence why Barbenhiemer was so successful .Wicked and Gladiator 2 are the next 2 movies to capitalize on this trend hoping to recapture the magic of Barbenheimer. Wicked's marketing has been similar to Barbie with very colourful and pink advertisements. While Gladiator 2 has mirrored Oppenheimers darker and more muted advertisements. Wicked is projected for an opening domestically between $120 and $140 million.

While Gladiator 2 is expected to open with $60-$80 million. This in comparison to Oppenheimer that opened with $82 million domestically, and Barbie that opened with $162 million. With these numbers, the debut of Wicked and Gladiator 2 look to make Glicked happen this weekend.

By Estefania Trujillo

It's Christmas season! That means movies season.

As this holiday approach here is a top 5 worst christmas movies, according to some Seneca students.

Hot Frosty. This is a new comedy/Christmas movie about this snowman who takes life as a hot and innocence man. But many people are not satisfy with this movie, according to some students this movie is "ridiculous and does not gives the Christmas vibe".
Jingle All the Way. With Arnold Schwarzenegger who plays the role of Howard, a workaholic who wants to make things up with his son and wife. Howard gets into the adventure to get his son the best Toy of the season, Turboman. This movie was mentioned by Seneca students as the worst Christmas movie, they said "it doesn't really make a lot of sense".
Is How the Grinch Stole Christmas a bad movie? Starring Jim Carrey, the film version of the beloved Dr Seuss book. While some people might believe it is a good movie, Seneca students believe it's a bizarre movie.
Home Alone 3. Why did they change the characters? That's the question students make. They complain that Home Alone 3 is the worst Christmas movie. "If Macaulay couldn't do Kevin's role anymore they should have not make another movie" those were the comments of some students.
A Christmas Carol. This fantasy animation movie about a miserly character Ebenezer Scrooge who Jim Carrey gives voice, thinks that Christmas is all humbug. But this is not the reason why students say this is a bad movie, they say the way the character looks is "scary".

By Temitope Alade

It's finally Christmas season and so it's time to defrost the movies that'll put us in a warm and cozy mood.

Let's start with the best 5 Christmas movies of all time according to Seneca students.

In number 5 it's National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

As the holidays approach, Clark Griswold wants to have a perfect family Christmas, so he pesters his wife, Ellen , and children, as he tries to make sure everything is in line. However, things go awry quickly. His hick cousin, Eddie, and his family show up unplanned and start living in their camper on the Griswold property.

Starring Chevy Chase as Clark W. "Sparky" Griswold Jr, Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen Griswold, Juliette Lewis as Audrey Griswold.

Number 4, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

A young reindeer Rudolph lives at the North Pole. His father is one of Santa's reindeer and it is expected that Rudolph will eventually be one too. However, he has a feature which is a setback and causes him to be ostracized: his red nose.

Starring Billie Mae Richards as Rudolph, Burl Ives as Sam the snowman, Larry D. Mann as Yukon Cornelius.

Number 3, A Christmas Story

In the 1940s, a young boy named Ralphie Parker attempts to convince his parents, teacher, and Santa Claus that a Red Ryder Range 200 Shot BB gun really is the perfect Christmas gift.

Starring Peter Billingsley as Ralphie Parker, Melinda Dillon as Mrs. Parker, Ian Petrella as Randy Parker.

Number 2, Home Alone

An eight-year-old troublemaker, mistakenly left at home by himself, must defend his home against a pair of burglars on Christmas Eve.

Starring Macaulay Culkin as Kevin, Joe Pesci as Marv, Daniel Stern as Harry

Number 1, It's a wonderful Life.

An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.

Starring James Stewart as George Bailey, Donna Reed as Mary Hatch, Lionel Barrymore as Mr Potter

by Temitope Alade

And now for this year, here are the 5 best Cristmas movies that's been released according to the Global Comment website.

In Number 1 A Sudden Case of Christmas

An American couple bring their 10-year-old daughter, Claire, to her grandfather's hotel in Italy to tell her that they are separating. Hoping to bring them back together, Claire asks the entire family to celebrate one last Christmas together, even though it's August.

Starring Danny DeVito, Andie MacDowell, Wilmer Valderrama, Lucy DeVito

Number 2 Red One

When a villain kidnaps Santa Claus from the North Pole, an E.L.F. (Extremely Large and Formidable) operative joins forces with the world's most accomplished tracker to find him and save Christmas.