Upset by the strike, Gladiator 2's budget would have exploded

THR advances filming to $310 million instead of $165 million for Ridley Scott.

In its latest newsletter, the Hollywood Reporter has put forward a huge budget increase for the sequel to Gladiator. Titled “Ridley Scott's Very Dear Roman Vacation”, this express article explains that the sequel to this flagship epic from the year 2000 would have gone from a 165 million dollar project… to 310 million. Paramount cuts the pear in two, “insisting on the fact that the 49 days of filming remained below 250 million”, can we read next. Which still represents a significant increase compared to the initial plan!

The article is short, and will no doubt be expanded upon in some time when details of the filming have officially leaked, but it mainly blames the actors' strike to explain the explosion in the film's budget. Gladiator 2.

Pedro Pascal amazed by the “impressive” filming of Gladiator 2

By signing to shoot the sequel to his cult film with Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix, this time with Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal, Ridley Scott obtained a substantial budget, and decided to shoot most of the film in Malta, reconstructing part of the Colosseum for the occasion. Exactly like what was agreed to shoot the first part at the time.

The problem was that when the strike stopped filming last July, there was still a lot of stuff left to shoot. Scott would have tried to film a few stunts and set elements while his main actors could return, but each day of filming without a star cost the studio dearly. THR thus indicates a loss of 600,000 dollars per week, or “a total of about 10 million until Scott resumes filming in December.”

165 million + 10 million, however, does not add up to 250 million… The rest of the article tells us that several incidents took place on this set, which should also have been covered by production. A perilous waterfall for example, turned tragic in June 2023, sending four people to hospital. Fortunately, their injuries were not life-threatening, but it helped delay plans.

This type of production requires a lot of extras, as well as a lot of set-up for fight scenes, and an open letter from PETA written last July clearly suggested that horses and monkeys had been mistreated on set. of Gladiator 2, exhausted from repeating the same scenes. The production strongly denies this accusation, explaining that the organization “Human Society” was by their side throughout the filming to keep an eye on things.

Remember that in 2000, Gladiator had been a big hit, both public and critical. For an official budget of just over 100 million dollars (not counting its marketing), it brought in 460 million worldwide, including 188 million in the United States alone. In France, the film attracted 4.8 million curious spectators in theaters.

Suffice to say that after such a popular first opus, its sequel has been the subject of significant anticipation since its announcement. Gladiator 2 should be released in cinemas next November.

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