Here's why you can't see "Gladiator II" or "Wicked" in Massachusetts' second biggest city
WORCESTER - "Wicked" and "Gladiator II" are finally in movie theaters, but you won't be able to see them in the second largest city in Massachusetts.
That's because Worcester doesn't have a single movie theater.
No movie theater in Worcester
Luckily Millbury's movie theater, Blackstone Valley 14 Cinema De Lux, is only a 12-minute drive from Worcester.
"Blackstone Valley has become a powerhouse theater that's brought people from all those towns, including Worcester," said Vice President of Global Marketing at Showcase Cinemas Mark Malinowski.
Showcase owns and operates the Blackstone Valley theater, one of the few left in central Massachusetts.
"This is probably the only one," movie-goer Laurie Vollnogle said. She and her two sisters were attending an early screening of "Wicked" at the Blackstone Thursday.
Blackstone Valley is ready to welcome customers to showings 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," one of Laurie's sisters said.
Theaters vs. streaming
Despite the hype surrounding the release of "Gladiator II" and "Wicked," theaters are struggling to compete with streaming services.
"Theaters have to adjust. We have streaming, sometimes the comfort of our own home is the avenue that we want to take, so movie theaters are battling that," Senior Entertainment Instructor at Suffolk University Maria Serraino told WBZ-TV.
Serraino said that theaters need to provide more than just the movie to get people off their couches and into the cinemas. They need to provide an experience.
"Having these merch items. Or there's even specialty mocktails and cocktails that they're coming out for 'Wicked,'" 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 showing of the two vastly different films. This year theaters are hoping people are just as excited "Gladiator II" and "Wicked" or as some people call it, "Glicked."
"It's much more fun to have the loudness and it's a bigger screen," Vollnogle said.
If you're planning to head to the theater this weekend to see "Gladiator II" or "Wicked" expect it to be busy. Showcase Cinemas says advance tickets to the two films reached $1 million in the Northeast.
