Italian
“Gladiator II” entered the international box office arena with $87 million from 63 markets, a powerful start for the quarter-century-in-the-making sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2000 best picture winner “Gladiator.”
This marks the biggest international R-rated opening weekend for Paramount Pictures as well as the best overseas debut for Scott, whose highest-grossing films include “The Martian” ($630 million globally), “Gladiator” ($465 million globally) and “Prometheus” ($403 million).
“Gladiator II” enjoyed the strongest start in the United Kingdom with $11.4 million from 722 locations, followed by France with $10.3 million from 729 locations, Spain with $5.6 million from 411 locations, Australia with $5 million from 353 locations and Mexico with $4.7 million from 922 locations. The sword-and-sandal epic, starring Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington, touches down in North America and Canada on Nov. 22, where it’ll compete for screens with Universal’s big-budget musical adaptation of “Wicked.”
The sequel to “Gladiator” carries a $250 million-plus budget, so it needs to resonate at the global box office to be deemed a success. Reviews have been mixed, averaging a 75% on Rotten Tomatoes. The story picks up two decades after the original as Lucius (Mescal), the nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s emperor Commodus, enters the Colosseum and seeks to return the glory of Rome to its people. Variety’s Owen Gleiberman called the film a “serviceable but far from great sequel.” Of course, “Gladiator II” has a lot to live up to as the follow-up to an Oscar best picture winner that was one of the highest grossing films of 2000.
Popular on Variety “Gladiator II” arrived far ahead of Dwayne Johnson’s Christmas-themed “Red One,” which added $14.7 million from 75 markets in its second weekend at the international box office. The film, which is being released by Amazon MGM in North America and Warner Bros. in the rest of the world, has generated $34 million domestically and $84.1 million globally to date. “Red One,” starring the Rock as Santa’s head of security, cost $250 million to produce and roughly $100 million to promote to worldwide audiences, so it’s banking on holiday cheer through Thanksgiving and beyond to justify that price tag.
More to come…
