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Ridley Scott’s $462M Historical Epic Officially Becomes a Streaming Hit
Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II has become the most-watched film on Netflix’s US charts, despite its mixed reception and disappointing theatrical performance. Its streaming success suggests the sequel has found a larger audience at home than it did in cinemas.
Starring Paul Mescal as Lucius, the film follows Maximus’s grown son as he is enslaved and fights his way into Rome’s Colosseum to challenge its rulers. It earned $462.2 million worldwide against a reported $310 million budget; critics rated it 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences gave it 80%. On Netflix’s US chart, it moved ahead of Ben Affleck’s Animals.
In short
- Gladiator II is top of Netflix’s US film chart.
- The sequel made $462.2 million at cinemas.
- Audience ratings were higher than critics’ ratings.
Explained simply
Gladiator II is a sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2000 film Gladiator, a historical drama set in ancient Rome. It stars Paul Mescal as Lucius, the grown son of the earlier film’s central character, Maximus.
In the story, Lucius is enslaved and forced to fight in Rome’s Colosseum, where public contests helped entertain crowds and display the power of the empire’s rulers. The film’s performance in cinemas and on streaming offers two different measures of how widely it has reached audiences.