“Gladiator II” entered the global box office with $87 million from 63 markets, a strong start to the quarter-century sequel to “Gladiator,” directed by Ridley Scott, who won the 2000 Best Picture award.
This marks the biggest R-rated international opening weekend for Paramount Pictures as well as the best overseas debut for Scott, whose highest-grossing films include “The Martian” ($630 million worldwide) and “Gladiator” ($465 million worldwide) and “Prometheus” ($403 million).
“Gladiator II” also grossed $7 million in Imax from 453 screens, placing among the company’s top three international debuts this year.
The sequel enjoyed the strongest launch 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 sites. . The sword-and-sandal saga, starring Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington, lands in North America and Canada on November 22, where it will compete for screens with Universal’s big-budget musical version of “Wicked.”
The “Gladiator” sequel has a budget of more than $250 million, so it needs to resonate at the global box office to be considered a success. Reviews were mixed with an average of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes. The story takes place two decades after the events of the original when Lucius (Mescal), nephew of Emperor Joaquin Phoenix Commodus, enters the Colosseum and seeks to return the glory of Rome to its people. Miscellaneous Owen Gleiberman called the film “serviceable but far from a great sequel.” Of course, “Gladiator II” has a lot to live up to as a follow-up to a Best Picture Oscar-winning film that was one of the highest-grossing films of 2000.
Gladiator II held a significant lead over 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, released by Amazon MGM in North America and Warner Bros. In the rest of the world, it’s $34 million domestically and $84.1 million worldwide so far. “Red One,” starring The Rock as Santa’s security chief, cost $250 million to produce and about $100 million to promote to audiences worldwide, so it relies on holiday cheer through Thanksgiving and beyond to justify that price tag.
Also this weekend, Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” and Sony’s “Venom: The Last Dance” hit the box office. The first, an animated adventure about a lone robot who forms a community in the wild, surpassed $300 million with $308 million in ticket sales globally, including $170 million from overseas markets. The latter, a trilogy in the comic book series led by Tom Hardy, has surpassed $400 million with revenues of $436.1 million worldwide, including $308.5 million internationally.