Gladiator II needs to show some legs to break even. With a $250 million production budget to clear, plus all the usual add-ons from marketing costs, fees, and Hollywood Accounting at play, the current return of $320 million worldwide won’t cut it.
A report from Puck News’ Scott Mendelson last week said the curve is looking weak, and pointing to a global gross of around $500 million maximum. So this would mean it needs to find some staying power and then probably do good bank on home rentals to turn a profit.
Scott disagrees. He was apparently already talking to Paramount about Gladiator III, he’s seen the figures coming in, and this does nothing to change his opinion. According to an interview with Mama’s Geeky (via Dark Horizons) he said:
“Given the performance in the rest of the world we’ve seen yesterday, there’s certainly going to be a Gladiator III.”
Scott has already begun writing the sequel.
Gladiator II told the story of Lucius and is set years after he witnessed the death of Maximus at the hands of his uncle. He must enter the Colosseum after the powerful emperors of Rome conquer his home. With rage in his heart and the future of the empire at stake, he looks to the past to find the strength and honor needed to return the glory of Rome to its people.
It has received mixed reviews and is currently sitting at 3.2/5 on Google Reviews from over 6,000 reviews from members of the public.