Gladiator 2continues to perform well at the worldwide box office as the movie threatens to smash two Ridley Scott milestones. While not regarded as thebest of Ridley Scott’s movies,Gladiator 2was still mostly well-received by critics and audiences alike. Thanks toGladiator 2’s ensemble cast, the film transcended the need for Russell Crowe as Maximus Decimus Meridius and returned audiences to ancient Rome in a way that has proved to resonate.
This has even led to discussions overGladiator 3’s story. Many would have been hesitant to wish for two moreGladiatormovies after the seemingly perfect ending of the original, butGladiator 2demonstrated there is still life in the franchise. Not only didGladiator 2prove this from a story perspective, but also from a commercial one too.Gladiator 2’s box officeremains strong despite competition fromMoana 2andWicked. With the former showing no sign of slowing down, it is only a matter of time before it surpasses two Ridley Scott milestones at the box office.
Gladiator 2 Is Only $80 Million Away From Becoming Ridley Scott’s Highest-Grossing Franchise Return
Gladiator Is Edging Closer To Cutting Down Xenomorphs & Engineers
The first record thatGladiator 2is close to breaking regarding Ridley Scott’s box office career centers around his return to franchises. Scott is not a filmmaker who tends to craft long-running franchises in which he returns as director multiple times, only having done so a select number of times.Gladiator 2is one of these instances, as was his return to theAlienfranchise with 2012’sPrometheusand 2017’sAlien: Covenant,and the box office earnings of these movies viaThe Numbershighlight the record Scott could break with the former.
$126,477,084
$402,448,265
$74,262,031
$238,521,247
$113,571,093 (Ongoing)
$322,362,990 (Ongoing)
Evidently,Gladiator 2has surpassedAlien: Covenantregarding its box office earnings in the United States and Canada. In the same market, it is only around $13 million away from doing the same withPrometheus.Regarding worldwide box office earnings,Gladiator IIhas breezed pastAlien: Covenant. That said, there is still work to do for the film to outgrossPrometheus, withGladiator 2needing to earn around $80 million more overall to do so. If this occurs,Gladiator 2will become the highest-grossing franchise return directed by Ridley Scott.
Gladiator 2 Needs $95 Million To Push Ridley Scott Past The $5 Billion Box Office Milestone
Scott’s Career Success Is Evident, & Gladiator 2 Can Only Improve This
As alluded to,Gladiator 2has the chance to hand Scott another box office record. The first concerns his return to franchises, while the second pertains to his overall box office earnings in his entire career. Thus far, includingGladiator 2’s earnings as of the time of writing,Ridley Scott-directed movies have earned a worldwide total of $4,905,259,994. For a director with a career as long-lasting as Scott’s, this is hardly a surprise, butGladiator 2has the opportunity to make this already impressive number even more breathtaking.
This will place Scott in an elite box office club of filmmakers, with only seven in history having directed movies worth more than $5 billion worldwide…
Gladiator 2only needs to earn $95 million more to push Scott’s career worldwide box office total above $5 billion. This will place Scott in an elite club of filmmakers, thehighest-grossing directors of all time, with only seven in history having directed movies worth more than $5 billion worldwide. These directors are Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, the Russo Brothers, Michael Bay, Peter Jackson, David Yates, and Christopher Nolan. Ridley Scott is surely the next to join these other Hollywood filmmakers given the impressive upward trend ofGladiator 2’s worldwide earnings.
When Gladiator 2’s Box Office Will Pass These Significant Ridley Scott Milestones
Gladiator 2 Will Accomplish These Feats Sooner Rather Than Later
Naturally, the burning question now is whenGladiator 2will pass these milestones. As pointed out, the film has some strong competition going into December, withWickedandMoana 2breaking box office records alongside Ridley Scott’s swords-and-sandals epic. However,Gladiator 2performed better than many expected in both its opening and its second weekend despite the competition from both aforementioned musicals, meaning it is not expected to drop too harshly in its third weekend.
Box Office: Moana 2, Wicked & Gladiator 2 Just Set Multiple All-Time Holiday Records [Full Chart Update]
The Thanksgiving weekend blockbusters Moana 2, Wicked, and Gladiator II break a huge collection of major records at the domestic box office.
Gladiator 2is also performing well overseas, having opened in some markets a week earlier, on June 16, 2025. With all this in mind,Gladiator 2is expected to surpass these two Ridley Scott milestones soon. In fact, both will likely be eclipsed in the film’s next big weekend: December 6–December 9. This will be the film’s fourth weekend in many overseas territories, and only its third domestically. With that in mind, ifGladiator 2can continue to hold strong without too much of a drop-off, these records could be beaten that weekend, if not in the immediate week after.
Gladiator II
Cast
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.
