Ridley Scott's $462M Historical Epic Officially Becomes a Streaming Hit

Ridley Scott has given us some amazing movies — like the Alien franchise, the twisted Hannibal, the iconic Blade Runner, and sci-fi staple The Martian. The fan-favorite director has a vision that, when realized, brings the best spectacle on the big screen and leaves a lasting impact on the genre. But when his movies underperform, fans love to argue about them, like Joaquin Phoenix's Napoleon and the Adam Driver and Matt Damon-starring The Last Duel. But there's one Ridley Scott feature that gets universal praise: Gladiator.

The original movie starring Russell Crowe established itself as a definitive pop-culture touchstone of the early 2000s owing to its highly quotable dialogue and Crowe's flawless performance, among other things. But underneath all the glamour of the arena, the feature quietly elevated the sword-and-sandals genre with the grandeur of the historical epic. Scott tried to recreate the same magic with Gladiator II, which saw Paul Mescal as protagonist Lucius, who has a similar arc of freedom and revenge as Maximus (Crowe). Lucius, the grown son of Maximus, is forced into slavery and the Colosseum after Roman legions invade his home. Driven by vengeance, he rises as a gladiator to challenge Rome's corrupt leadership. Despite being a legacy sequel and having a cast full of heavyweight performers, like Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, and a returning Connie Nielsen, Gladiator II failed to excite the audience.

The sequel was praised for significantly dialing up theatrical scale and trading the original's somber moments for massive set pieces. It became a box-office flop, earning only $462.2 million on a $310 million budget. The movie divided its audience, but not by a wide margin. While the critics gave it a 70% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, deeming the movie “an action extravaganza that derives much of its strength and honor from Denzel Washington's scene-stealing performance,” in their consensus. The audience was more appreciative, awarding it an 80% rating, and now their love is catapulting the feature to new heights.

'Gladiator II' Is Entertaining Fans on Netflix

Gladiator II is the top movie on Netflix U.S. charts, as per FlixPatrol. The feature has dethroned Ben Affleck's thriller Animals on the charts, which also includes Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Evans' new release Sacrifice, Hollywood Dirt, Twilight, The Breadwinner, and more.