The sequel opens to $87 million internationally

“Gladiator II” entered the international box office arena with $87 million from 63 markets, a strong start to the sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2000 best picture winner “Gladiator,” which is less than a quarter century old.

This marks the biggest international R-rated opening weekend for Paramount Pictures as well as the best overseas debut for Scott, whose top-grossing films include “The Martian” ($630 million globally), “Gladiator” ($465 million globally) and “Prometheus” ($403 million).

“Gladiator II” also scored in Imax with $7 million from 453 screens, ranking among the company’s top three international debuts this year.

The sequel had the strongest launch in the UK with $11.4 million from 722 locations, followed by France with $10.3 million from 729 locations, Spain with $5.6 million from 411 locations, Australia with $5 million from 353 locations and Mexico with $4.7 million from 922 locations. . The sword-and-sandal epic, starring Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington, lands in North America and Canada on Nov. 22, where it will compete for screens with Universal’s major musical adaptation of “Wicked.”

The “Gladiator” sequel has a budget of more than $250 million, so it needs to resonate at the global box office to be considered a success. Reviews have been mixed with an average of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes. The story picks up two decades after the original when Lucius (Mescal), the nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s Emperor Commodus, enters the Colosseum and seeks to return the glory of Rome to its people. Variations Owen Gleiberman called the film a “serviceable but far from great sequel.” Of course, “Gladiator II” has a lot to live up to, coming off an Oscar win for Best Picture that was one of the top-grossing films of 2000.

“Gladiator II” arrived well ahead of Dwayne Johnson’s Christmas-themed “Red One,” which added $14.7 million from 75 markets in its second weekend at the international box office. The film, which is being released by Amazon MGM in North America and Warner Bros. in the rest of the world, to date has generated $34 million domestically and $84.1 million globally. “Red One,” starring The Rock as Santa’s security chief, cost $250 million to produce and about $100 million to promote to worldwide audiences, so it’s rocking through Thanksgiving and beyond to justify that price tag.

Also this weekend, Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” and Sony’s “Venom: The Last Dance” were separate milestones. The former, an animated adventure about a lone robot who forms a community in the desert, crossed the $300 million mark with box office sales of $308 million globally, including $170 million from overseas markets. The latter, a threequel in the Tom Hardy-led comic series, surpassed $400 million with $436.1 million worldwide, including $308.5 million internationally.