by Adrian Boyce
In fact, it’s hard to think of any major movie or television series that hasn’t been marked for some sort of sequel, prequel, rehash, update, or reworking. It is, of course, a criticism of the industry, and one wonders whether it points to a kind of creative anaemia when movie studios can’t come up with something new for mainstream cinema.
Still, there are times when the reboot or sequel somehow makes sense. A case in point is Top Gun: Maverick. It’s not as if fans were clamouring for a sequel to the 1986 smash hit, but director Joseph Kosinski and Tom Cruise played a blinder, making one of the most successful films commercially in the 2020s, as well as one that seemed to please fans and critics alike.
Like Top Gun, fans of the movie Gladiator have hardly been knocking on Ridley Scott’s door asking for a sequel to be made. Can you think of any movie with a greater sense of finality than Gladiator? (Spoiler alert) After all, the majority of the main characters die throughout the film, and that includes both the protagonist and antagonist. There’s very little in terms of continuation for the story to evolve.
Gladiator 2 should arrive in 2024
But a sequel is in the works, and, yes, legendary director Ridley Scott is on board. It’s a curious thing because you get the sense that, like Top Gun: Maverick, there will be very little middle ground: it’s either going to be amazing, or it will stink the place out.
Top Gun and Gladiator are hugely different movies, of course. But what’s interesting here is that they both exist outside the realms of standard fandom. You may have had a Top Gun poster on your bedroom wall in the 1980s, and you may have purchased the (brilliant and underrated) Gladiator soundtrack in the 2000s, but we aren’t talking Marvel and Star Wars here.
Sure, both films have memorabilia and exist in other media. Playtech, one of the foremost developers of online casino games created both an officially-licensed Top Gun slot, as well as two games licensed to use imagery from Gladiator. All of these games are highly successful, but the casino industry is still a niche industry for fandom. There were several Top Gun video games, but most of them were very modest hits. As such, there is not a huge amount to keep the fandom going outside of love for the original movies.
A logical continuation must unfold
The point, perhaps, is this: if it makes little sense to create a sequel for Gladiator in terms of demand, then there better be very good creative reasons. Sure, movie studios would love to use the ready-made branding for Gladiator in lieu of just another generic sword and sandals epic, but from the director’s point of view, there must be artistic reasons for a return to the well. Ridley Scott is at the stage in his career where he can do any project he likes, so it feels unlikely he is returning to Ancient Rome for the money.
Scott and the production team claim they have a story worth telling. All kinds of rumours are flying around about what the plot could be, and whether certain actors will come back. That includes Russell Crowe, who would presumably return in flashback form. But that aside, there has to be some kind of logical continuation to the Gladiator story. Otherwise, it would simply be a branding exercise.
But Top Gun: Maverick showed us that a sequel that nobody asked for can rock the box office and wow the critics. Pre-production on Gladiator 2 is well underway, and a shooting location has been chosen in Morocco. The film should land in 2024. Will it be a maverick hit?
