An actual-scale model of the Colosseum, flooded and filled with longboats. A two-tonne, eight-wheeled, lifesize rhino that can spin, snarl, wag its head and do 40mph. And as much minced beef, sweet potato and personal training as Paul Mescal can stomach. Such were some of the huge costs involved in the production of Gladiator II, which comes to cinemas next month, 24 years after Ridley Scott’s blockbusting original.
Such conspicuous spending might be assumed to be making studio executives sweat, but Hollywood is banking on the film being a commercial success – particularly given the calamitous box office returns for another recent sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, Todd Phillip’s follow-up to his $1bn 2019 hit, now fast-tracked to streaming and projected to lose $200m.
