The halls shouted loud and clear “Strength and Honor”. The legendary phrase of Gladiator, which is repeated in its sequel, resonated this weekend in theaters due to the resounding success of the film. Gladiator 2 exploded the box office, achieving the second best opening of the year with 5.7 million euros in just three days of exhibition and more than 750,000 spectators. It will undoubtedly be one of the most successful films of 2024.
He is placed, in the ranking of this course, only behind In reverse 2, which made 6.7 million euros in June, but before Deadpool and Wolverine, which at the end of July managed to exceed 4.5 million. We will have to see how it performs in the coming weeks, where there will be important releases, but it does not seem that there will be any rival for the sequel directed by Ridley Scott, which continues the story of the previous film of the years later and with new characters played by two fashion stars, Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal. This data represents 127% more than the first opus, according to data offered by its distributor, Paramount Pictures.
The big blockbuster of Gladiator 2 boosted the entire box office in general, making last weekend the best of the year. 1.2 million people went to the cinema, even if 61% of them went to see the epic by Scott and company. This left the rest of the films with a smaller haul. In second place is Red, the Christmas action film with Dwayne Johnson, closing the podium Wild robotwhich confirms itself as one of the animated films of the year. The third part of Venom He falls to fourth place with 420,000 euros over the weekend, and in fifth place he resists The infiltrator, the Spanish end-of-year blockbuster which is already approaching seven million in revenue.
Next week it will be released in the United States, where curiously it is not guaranteed to be number 1 at the box office. Nobody doubts that it will be a success, but its release date coincides with a musical phenomenon like Wicked, the first part of which arrives the same weekend. Many saw echoes in this coincidence of what happened last year with Oppenheimer And Barbie. Two phenomena, one very masculine, the other more feminine and aimed at an LGBT audience which will burst into cinemas. Unlike what happens outside, in the United States it will be the musical, a prequel to The Golden Wizard, which will surely occupy first place at the box office.
In countries where it has already been released, the result has been fantastic, becoming the best of a Ridley Scott film. We can distinguish the excellent performance of the United Kingdom, with 11.4 million dollars, or of France with more than 10. But also that Spain is the third country where it worked the best, much better than in countries like Mexico or Italy. The total of 63 countries where it was released Gladiator This weekend it stood at a spectacular 87 million.
There would be no doubt that Gladiator 2 will recoup its high budget of 250 million, it will be necessary to see how far its legs will go, which will depend on how much the public appreciates and recommends it, but also on how it is claimed come awards season. Many see it as a possible Best Picture Oscar nominee. A few awards where his previous delivery won five statuettes, including that of best film. Of course, Ridley Scott lost the Best Director award, an award that continues to elude him.
