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Tag: gladiator 2

  • Gladiator II Is Escalating the Popcorn Bucket Arms Race

    Gladiator II Is Escalating the Popcorn Bucket Arms Race

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    No modern blockbuster is complete with its very own popcorn bucket. It’s a trend that’s been happening for a few years but rose to viral levels when Dune: Part Two released one that, well, looked like a sex toy. Since then, the popcorn bucket wars have taken theatergoers on all types of adventures and now the latest one, for Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, is adding a whole new element.

    Coming exclusively to Cinemark theaters, the Gladiator II popcorn bucket isn’t just a popcorn bucket shaped like the Roman Colosseum at the center of the franchise. It also has an AR element that allows you to watch an actual battle happen inside the Colosseum itself… just hopefully not while you are still in the theater.

    You can watch a little example below from the Gladiator II social media account.

    So the idea here is you order the Gladiator II popcorn bucket, finish the popcorn, then after the movie scan the AR code and watch the battle. Which, we have to admit, is not a bad idea. It does promote phone use with something you can only buy through a movie theater, which isn’t great, but the idea of extending the story out of the theater is a good one. Plus, in terms of actual popcorn receptacles, the Colosseum is one of the better-shaped buckets yet. Plus it is decidedly asexual, which we can’t say about every popcorn bucket released this year.

    Overall though, what the 2024 popcorn bucket wars—with such films as Dune: Part Two and Deadpool & Wolverine, but also Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Terrifier 3, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and others—have done is given people another reason to go to the movies. Not only do you get bigger screeners and better sound, but now you can get collectibles too and that’s a smart add.

    One thing that might stand out in the case of Gladiator II though is the subject matter. All the other films mentioned below were sci-fi, fantasy, and blockbuster fare. Gladiator II certainly has blockbuster potential but it’s much more of an awards-bait drama than anything else. Will audiences who show up to see Gladiator II care about this popcorn bucket or even its AR evolution? Will they even know what AR is? It just seems like an odd pairing of forward-thinking with a safe sequel.

    The Gladiator II popcorn bucket will be available soon. Keep an eye on Cinemark’s social media. Gladiator II is in theaters on November 22.

    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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    Germain Lussier

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  • ‘Gladiator 2’ Has the ‘Biggest Action Sequence I’ve Ever Done,’ Says Ridley Scott

    ‘Gladiator 2’ Has the ‘Biggest Action Sequence I’ve Ever Done,’ Says Ridley Scott

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    Ridley Scott has delivered some epic battle scenes in his films, from the Battle of Kerak in 2005’s “Kingdom of Heaven” to the Battle of Austerlitz in 2023’s “Napoleon.” But his upcoming sequel to “Gladiator” features an action sequence that’s larger than anything he’s done in the past, according to the legendary filmmaker.

    “We begin the film with probably the biggest action sequence I’ve ever done,” Scott told Empire in a recent interview. “Probably bigger than anything in ‘Napoleon.’” 

    “Gladiator 2” stars Paul Mescal as Lucius, the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and nephew of Commodus, the original film’s antagonist played by Joaquin Phoenix. Set years after 2000’s “Gladiator,” the sequel sees Lucius living as a young adult in the northern African region of Numidia, where he was sent by his mother as a child. Events bring Lucius back to Rome as a gladiator, where he makes new enemies and reunites with his mother.

    Although Scott didn’t share too many details about the opening action sequence in “Gladiator 2,” he did tease a moment where Mescal’s Lucius faces a rhinoceros in the Colosseum.

    “Computerization and AI — you have to embrace it,” Scott said of building the computer-generated rhino for the scene. “I can have a computer read every molecule and wrinkle on a rhino and then cut it on a thick piece of plastic, absolutely as a rhino’s body, which is then tailored to a skeleton shape.”

    He added, “I have this thing that can do 40 miles an hour, spin on the spot, wag its head and snarl. A two-ton rhino with a guy on its back! I mean, it’s a lot of fun.”

    “Gladiator 2” premieres in theaters Nov. 22.

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    Michaela Zee

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  • Ridley Scott Edited 90 Minutes of ‘Gladiator 2’ Amid Strike Shutdown, Including a Baboon Fight Scene; Director Haunted by Video of Real Attack in South Africa

    Ridley Scott Edited 90 Minutes of ‘Gladiator 2’ Amid Strike Shutdown, Including a Baboon Fight Scene; Director Haunted by Video of Real Attack in South Africa

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    Ridley Scott revealed in a recent New Yorker profile that he has been editing the 90 minutes of footage he was able to capture for “Gladiator 2” before the Hollywood strikes shut down production. Scott was shooting the long-awaited “Gladiator” sequel in Morocco when filming stopped indefinitely. He can’t resume production until the SAG-AFTRA strike is resolved.

    As reported by The New Yorker: “With SAG-AFTRA and the studios back in negotiations, he was preparing to pick up ‘Gladiator 2,’ which stars Paul Mescal, the moment the strike was resolved. ‘I could shoot on Monday,’ he said. (The talks fell apart a week later.) In the meantime, he’d been polishing the 90 minutes he had, including a scene in which the hero fights a pack of baboons; he’d been haunted, he said, by a video of baboons attacking tourists in Johannesburg: ‘Baboons are carnivores. Can you hang from that roof for two hours by your left leg? No! A baboon can.’”

    Russell Crowe faced off against Joaquin Phoenix in Scott’s original “Gladiator,” which grossed a whopping $503 million worldwide in 2000 and won the Oscar for best picture, but “Gladiator 2” star Paul Mescal will apparently be going head-to-head against a pack of baboons. How’s that for raising the stakes? Mescal is joined in the sequel by Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger and Pedro Pascal.

    “Gladiator 2” is set years after the events of the original and follows an adult Lucius (Mescal), the nephew of Commodus (Phoenix). Given the time jump, original star Crowe is not involved in the sequel. Crowe earned the Academy Award for best actor thanks to “Gladiator.” He has repeatedly said that neither Scott nor anyone involved with “Gladiator 2” reached out to him since the sequel has nothing to do with the character he played in the original. At the Karlovy Film Festival in July, Crowe even urged the press to stop asking him about the “Gladiator” sequel.

    “They should be fucking paying me for the amount of questions I am asked about a film I am not even in,” Crowe said. “It has nothing to do with me. In that world, I am dead. Six feet under. But I do admit to a certain tinge of jealousy, because it reminds me of when I was younger and what it meant for me, in my life.”

    Mescal previously told Esquire UK that he wouldn’t “know what we would talk about” regarding discussions with Crowe. He added, “Like, I’d love to hear his stories from filming, but the character is, like, totally separate.” 

    Paramount Pictures is set to open “Gladiator 2” in theaters Nov. 22, 2024, although a delay could happen depending on the outcome of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

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  • Russell Crowe Won’t Return For ‘Gladiator 2’

    Russell Crowe Won’t Return For ‘Gladiator 2’

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    Ridley Scott’s Gladiator is now considered one of the best historical epics ever. Unfortunately, its star won’t be returning for the sequel. The long-in-development Gladiator 2 is going to be helmed once again by director Ridley Scott. But Crowe doesn’t generally make sequels, and the story of the film doesn’t necessarily lend itself to an appearance by his character anyway.

    Russell Crowe recently appeared on an episode of the podcast Fitzy And Wippa to speak a bit about the sequel. It turns out that he actually knows a good bit about the production and has had dinner with Scott recently, but no kind of partnership materialized.

    He explained…

    Yeah we’ve had dinner and talked about it and all that stuff. So I know roughly how he’s shaping the story. But yeah, if you remember, there was a young kid who wanted to beat the Gladiator, which leads to the ‘My name is’ speech. So that young kid has grown up, and he’s now the Emperor. I don’t know what else happens at that point, so that’s the idea. So it’s not a remake.

    Crowe’s character, Maximus, died in the original film, so that would seemingly preclude him making an appearance in this sequel. Or maybe not; for many years, there was a Gladiator sequel in development that would have starred Crowe and seen his character get resurrected from the afterlife and rejoin his son in the real world. Other drafts of the movie reportedly included Jesus Christ as a character — and possibly an opponent! — of Maximus. In this version Maximus would have supposedly become an immortal, and survived to see the fall of Rome, and then lived through countless other wars up to the present day.

    The story for the sequel they’re actually making now takes place a while after Maximus dies. And with Crowe not returning for this film it will instead star Aftersun actor Paul Mescal, supposedly as Maximus’ adult son.

    Historical Movies That Are Wildly Inaccurate

    These films are based on real people and events … but just barely. Most of what was up on screen was invented by screenwriters.

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    Cody Mcintosh

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