Gladiator 2’s Box Office Pushed Ridley Scott Past A Major Milestone Only 9 Other Directors Have Done

2024 was a year filled with plenty of great box office successes, ranging from the biggest animated film of all time in Inside Out 2 to the highest-grossing Broadway musical adaptation ever, but one success that may have gone slightly under the radar was the historical epic sequel, Gladiator II. The legacy sequel was directed by Ridley Scott, one of Hollywood’s most prolific directors, and its monetary success has earned him a very significant box office status that only a few other directors have managed.

While Gladiator II‘s reviews were tamer when compared to some of the bigger successes of the year, and fell short of the other half of the “Glicked” phenomenon, the film was an absolute hit, grossing over $430 million during its theatrical run. The film was a boon for many of Gladiator II‘s cast, bringing their box office scores up quite significantly. However, the addition to Ridley Scott’s box office total brings him to a very significant milestone.

Ridley Scott’s Movies Have Now Made $5 Billion At The Worldwide Box Office After Gladiator 2

Gladiator 2 Barely Pushed The Director Past The Milestone

One of Scott’s first movies, and certainly his first big success, was Alien all the way back in 1979. Since then, Scott has come out with plenty of massive box office hits, and with Gladiator II‘s success, his total has been brought up to just over $5 billion, according to The Numbers. This is a huge achievement for the director; yet seeing as he has been making classic Hollywood hits since the 1970s, this milestone was only a matter of time.

Scott’s biggest movies are The Martian and both Gladiator films. While he has never made the huge, billion-dollar films that other directors of this caliber have, he has had enough solid hits over his long career to reach this achievement. Despite his recent streak of misses, with films like Napoleon, House of Gucci, and The Last Duel mostly underperforming, Ridley Scott has proven himself with many great films. He was always going to bounce back, and it seems Gladiator II was just the right project to do so.

Ridley Scott Joins An Elite Group Of Directors To Cross The $5 Billion Box Office Milestone

Only A Handful Of Directors Have Done What Scott Has Achieved

Ridley Scott’s new $5 billion milestone brings him into a very small group of directors who have earned the same amount of money at the box office. Scott sits alongside directors like Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, and Christopher Nolan, as one of only nine filmmakers to pass the same mark. Directors like the Russo Brothers have been much more successful recently, but many of the others are classic directors who have been making movies for years and years, and Scott is the latest to reach this specific success thanks to Gladiator II.

Source: The Numbers

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Gladiator 2 is the follow-up to Ridley Scott’s award-winning film Gladiator from 2000. Scott returns to direct the sequel, with Paul Mescal staring as Lucius, alongside Denzel Washington and Joseph Quinn as the villain Emperor Geta. Gladiator 2 had been stuck in development hell for years before a script written by David Scarpa finally moved forward.

Release Date

November 22, 2024

Main Genre

Adventure

Cast

Paul Mescal
, Pedro Pascal
, Denzel Washington
, Connie Nielsen
, Joseph Quinn
, Fred Hechinger
, Derek Jacobi
, May Calamawy
, Peter Mensah
, Matt Lucas
, Alexander Karim
, Tim McInnerny
, Lee Charles
, Chidi Ajufo
, Alfie Tempest
, Riana Duce
, Chi Lewis Parry
, Paul Candelent
, Hadrian Howard
, Alexander Simkin
, Mikhail Basmadjian
, Matthew Charlery-Smith
, Maxime Durand
, Lior Raz

Writers

David Scarpa
, Peter Craig
, David Franzoni

Runtime

148 minutes

Character(s)

Lucius Verus
, Marcus Acacius
, Macrinus
, Lucilla
, Emperor Caracalla
, Emperor Geta
, Gracchus

Studio(s)

Paramount Pictures
, Universal Pictures
, Scott Free Productions
, Red Wagon Entertainment

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