It was highly unlikely that Ridley Scott would choose to water down the violence in a gladiator movie, but the rating has now been made official.
Ridley Scott and Paramount have been hyping up the upcoming sequel, Gladiator II, immensely. Paramount President of International Theatrical Distribution Mark Viane would talk up the footage at this year’s CineEurope trade show and declared that he and his peers were blown away by early footage that they saw. Viane would also make the proclamation that Gladiator II has some of the “biggest action sequences ever put on film.”
Additionally, Scott teased, “We begin the film with probably the biggest action sequence I’ve ever done,” Scott teased to Empire. “Probably bigger than anything in Napoleon.” With all the battles the film will feature, both in gladiatorial and war, it’s always been likely that Scott would not shy away from the violence the same way he didn’t with the 2000 original. The upcoming film ratings from the MPA have been released, and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II has been rated R. The sequel, which stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal, is rated R for “strong bloody violence.”
“From legendary director Ridley Scott, Gladiator II continues the epic saga of power, intrigue, and vengeance set in Ancient Rome,” reads the official Gladiator II synopsis. “Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.“
Gladiator II is set to hit theaters on November 11th, the same day as Wicked, which has some hoping that we’ve got Barbenheimer 2.0 on our hands, including Mescal. “Wickdiator doesn’t really roll off the tongue does it? I think my preference would probably be Glicked if it has a similar effect to what it did for Barbie and Oppenheimer,” Mescal said. “It would be amazing ’cause I think the films couldn’t be more polar opposites and it worked in that context previously. So fingers crossed people come out and see both films on opening weekend.“