Released in 2024, Gladiator II failed to replicate the first part’s immense box-office success. The sequel earned $462 million worldwide, but its $310 million budget meant that it barely broke even. In fact, it earned less than the $466 million Gladiator made when it released in 2000. Russell Crowe, star of the first Gladiator, has now said the sequel’s failure was because it lacked the ‘moral core’ that made the first successful.
‘The studio thought there should be sex’
During a panel at the Taormina Film Festival, the actor reflected on his career-defining role as Maximus and revealed why he pushed back against certain creative decisions during the making of the original Gladiator.
“When we were shooting that film, there was a lot of pressure. The studio, the producers [thought] there should be sex between Maximus and the female characters. I kept pushing back. This is the story of a man avenging the death of his wife and his child. There cannot be a moment in that journey where he stops and has sex with somebody. It doesn’t make any sense because that destroys the journey,” Russell Crowe said.
The Oscar-winning actor said even director Ridley Scott agreed with his argument, and the plot was abandoned. He then moved to the sequel, talking about how it failed to connect with the audience.
Gladiator had a moral core
“It’s very interesting because the second movie barely took the same box office that the first movie took. That’s 20 years later. When you apply how much of a change there’s been on the value of a dollar, they failed. They failed because they didn’t understand why [the original movie] was successful — it had a moral core.”
Gladiator, made on a budget of around $100 million, made $466 million worldwide. It was a blockbuster as well as a critical success, winning five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Russel Crowe. The sequel was labelled a below-average performer after it failed to reach the projected $600-million mark to break even.
About the two Gladiators
The original film followed Maximus (Russell Crowe), a Roman general who is betrayed, enslaved and forced into the gladiatorial arena after the murder of his wife and child.
The sequel stars Paul Mescal as Lucius, who returns to Rome as a prisoner and is trained as a gladiator by Macrinus, a former slave portrayed by Denzel Washington, who harbours ambitions of overthrowing the empire’s twin rulers.
