WORCESTER – “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” are finally in theaters, but you won’t be able to see them in Massachusetts’ second-largest city.
That’s because Worcester doesn’t have a single cinema.
No cinema in Worcester
Luckily, Millbury’s cinema, Blackstone Valley 14 Cinema De Lux, is just a 12-minute drive from Worcester.
“Blackstone Valley has become a powerhouse theater that has attracted people from all those cities, including Worcester,” said Mark Malinowski, vice president of Global Marketing at Showcase Cinemas.
Showcase owns and operates the Blackstone Valley Theater, one of the few remaining theaters in central Massachusetts.
“This is probably the only one,” said filmgoer Laurie Vollnogle. She and her two sisters attended an early screening of “Wicked” in Blackstone on Thursday.
Blackstone Valley is ready to welcome customers to the screenings of the two highly anticipated films.
“These weekends are what we live for in our industry,” Malinowski said.
“I’m excited to see how they do some of the special effects compared to how they see it on stage,” said one of Laurie’s sisters.
Theaters vs. streaming
Despite the hype surrounding the release of “Gladiator II” and “Wicked,” theaters have struggled to compete with streaming services.
“Theatres have to adapt. We have streaming, sometimes the comfort of our own home is the path we want to take, so movie theaters are struggling with that,” Maria Serraino, senior entertainment instructor at the University of Suffolk, told WBZ-TV.
Serraino said theaters need to offer more than just the movie to get people off their couches and into theaters. They have to provide an experience.
“With these merchandise items. Or there are even special mocktails and cocktails that they release ‘Wicked’ for,” Serraino said.
Weekends with two highly anticipated releases can help theaters attract more customers, with double features, costume contests and other fun events.
The release of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” on the same day in 2023 created a phenomenon called “Barbenheimer” and brought large crowds to theaters, excited for a double screening of the two vastly different films. This year, theaters are hoping people are just as excited about “Gladiator II” and “Wicked,” or as some people are calling it, “Glicked.”
“It’s a lot nicer to have the volume and it’s a bigger screen,” Vollnogle said.
If you’re planning on going to the theater this weekend to see “Gladiator II” or “Wicked,” expect it to be busy. Showcase Cinemas says tickets for the two films in the Northeast were $1 million.
Tiffany Chan
