Gladiator II smashes box office record for Ridley Scott as critics call it ‘thrilling’

Gladiator II has debuted to an estimated $87 million at the international box office, making it the biggest overseas opening for any Ridley Scott film.

Out in theaters now, the director’s long-awaited sequel to his 2000 Gladiator picks up after the events of the original, which featured Russell Crowe as the Roman soldier Maximus and Joaquin Phoenix as his traitor Commodus.

Starring Paul Mescal as a grown-up Lucius, son of Crowe’s slain Maximus, the new film follows his journey to retake Rome and restore it to its former glory. It also features Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington, with the latter touted to be a major prize contender.

Not only do Gladiator II‘s astounding $87m global opening tops all other opening weekends for Scott, whose top-grossing film The Martian (2015) debuted to $54.3 million internationally, but it also gives Paramount Pictures the highest international opening weekend for an R-rated film, according to Black.

Meanwhile, Scott is the first Gladiator raised $34.8m. in during its opening weekend, before the global total of 430 million.

Gladiator II‘s total production costs were just under $250 million, insiders previously said The Hollywood Reporter. So it remains to be seen whether the film will break even, much less turn a profit.

So far, it has received average critical reviews and currently sits at a lukewarm 75 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The independent‘s Clarisse Loughrey called it “thrilling” in her four-star review but noted that Mescal is no Crowe.

However, the audience seems to really enjoy itwith one person tweeting: “Maximus can calm down, I was really entertained.”

“Absolutely amazing movie,” agreed another, while a third praised it as “a great sequel to a MASTERPIECE movie.”

“It was a good sequel and should be seen on the big screen!” another declared.

On the other hand, The independentPatrick Smith called it “a terrible mess” and questioned what Scott was thinking. “I couldn’t help feeling disappointed. Terribly irritated, even,” he wrote. “Scene by scene, Gladiator II just feels… undercooked. There is no panache, no bombast, no indelible lines.”

In an interview with Gayty, before its release, Washington revealed that his character, The ruthless businessman Macrinus, was originally filmed in a same-sex kiss.

“I actually kissed a man in the movie, but they took it out, they cut it, I think they got chicken,” the 69-year-old actor said. “I kissed a guy drunk on the lips and I guess they weren’t ready for that yet. I killed him about five minutes later. It’s Gladiator. It’s the kiss of death.”

Gladiator II playing in theaters now.