Gladiator II is being viciously picked apart by historians before the movie has even come out. The film is a long-awaited sequel to Ridley Scott’s historical epic Gladiator, which was originally released in 2000. Its story focuses around Lucius, the son of Russell Crowe’s former character Maximus, who died at the end of the first movie. Gladiator II features a talented leading cast including Pedro Pascal, Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, and Joseph Quinn. It is set for release on November 22.
Week before the movie has even gotten a chance to release, The Hollywood Reporter reveals that historians are already criticizing the content of Gladiator II. The criticism includes words from classics professors such as the University of Chicago’s Dr. Shadi Bartsch, who called the movie “Total Hollywood bullshit.” The professor also pointed out a wild inaccuracy involving a Roman person reading the newspaper while sipping tea in a cafe. Bartsch pointed out that they had “daily news” but it was carved into stone, and the Romans also “didn’t have cafes.”
What These Complaints Mean For Gladiator II
This Could Hurt Gladiator II’s Box Office Chances
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Because the movie has not yet been released, these historical complaints have been hedged merely against the Gladiator II trailers and other initial clips. The fact that Bartsch was able to draw out such glaring inaccuracies based on only this content is not a good sign for the full film. With a run time of nearly 2.5 hours, Gladiator II has a long time to maintain its historical moments. If even the initial glimpses are not accurate, it is unlikely that Scott has made a very historically accurate film at all.
Related Ridley Scott’s 8 History Movies, Ranked Worst To Best (Including Napoleon) Ridley Scott is well known for creating sensational fictional stories along with a long list of historical epics and action films he directed.
This could be a harbinger of doom for Gladiator II’s box office. Made on a massive budget estimated at anywhere between $165 million and $300 million, Gladiator II is one of the most expensive movies of the year. As such, it will need to see huge box office returns in order to recoup its production costs alone. Already, it faces a box office battle against Wicked during its opening weekend, and the musical movie has ranked above it in some predictive surveys. If word of mouth spreads news of the historical inaccuracies, it could hurt Gladiator II’s box office.
Our Take On The Gladiator II Inaccuracies
These Inaccuracies Seem Glaring
Image via Paramount Pictures
Scott has been known to have historical inaccuracies in his films before, but Gladiator II’s foibles seem especially flagrant. The events of the film came over a millennium before the invention of the printing press, so including a newspaper shows fairly blatant disregard of historical fact. In the case of Napoleon, Scott was fairly dismissive of factual complaints about the film. It will be interesting to see whether the director mirrors this strategy when it comes to responding to the Gladiator II criticism.
Source: THR
