There will definitely be a Gladiator III

Gladiator II stars Irish actor Paul Mescal as Lucius, the son of Russell Crowe’s Maximus from the multiple Oscar-winning original. The film has received positive reviews and has grossed $87 million at the global box office since its release in several countries last week.

“Judging by the performance we saw yesterday in the rest of the world, there’s definitely going to be a Gladiator III,” Scott said at the film’s gala U.S. premiere in Los Angeles on Monday.

“Because it also becomes financial, and you would be crazy not to consider a third version,” said the British director of seminal films such as Blade Runner and Thelma & Louise.

Scott, a famously prolific filmmaker who is still directing about one film per year at the age of 86, said that the story of Gladiator II was also “planned to leave it open for a sequel.”

it would be more political

Mescal – whose character fights not only humans but bloodthirsty baboons, rhinos and sharks in Gladiator II – also expressed his excitement about returning for another film.

But he added that Scott had discussed a new direction for the storyline that would not “go back to the realm as we know it.”

“I would be excited to see it go into more political territory,” Mescal said, “having Lucius enter a world of court intrigue that he doesn’t want to be in, like Michael Corleone in The Godfather.”

Asked how the themes of the second film dealt with power and politics differently, some 24 years after the original, Scott said: “They’re exactly the same.”

“A super-rich man thinks he can take over an empire. Is he familiar?” He said, just days after billionaire Donald Trump was re-elected as US President.

,with AFP input,