Gladiator II (2024, D: Scott) S: Mescal, Washington, Pascal
 

prepping for "Gladiator II"...

"Gladiator II"

'Gladiator' May Return Without Crowe
By Claudia Parsons, Reuters

NEW YORK (July 11) - Russell Crowe's character may have been killed off at the end of the Oscar-winning movie "Gladiator," but that doesn't mean there won't be a sequel, Crowe's co-star, Djimon Hounsou, said Monday.

Crowe won an Oscar for his role as a Roman general who is betrayed by a jealous prince and returns to Rome as a gladiator to seek revenge. Benin-native Hounsou played an African slave who fights alongside him in the Colosseum.

Speaking in New York to promote his latest film "The Island," Hounsou said "definitely the desire is to do a sequel" to "Gladiator."

He acknowledged it would be hard for Crowe to return as Maximus given his dramatic death at the end of the first film, but he said producers were still working on the script and casting decisions.

"They're not happy about what they have for now, so they're still working on it. It's still in development," said Hounsou, adding that he expects to reprise his role as Juba. "I would probably be in the center of it as one of the leads," he said.

Hounsou's breakout role was in Steven Spielberg's "Amistad" in 1997. He was nominated for an Oscar in 2004 for best supporting actor for his role in "In America."

In "The Island" he plays a mercenary hunting fugitives from a secret institution that produces human clones.

Even if "Gladiator" producers were tempted to recall Crowe through a flashback or some other plot device, Hounsou admitted there could be other obstacles.

The original "Gladiator," directed by Ridley Scott and released in 2000, took more than $187 million at the box office in the United States.

The New Zealand-born Crowe was arrested last month after an incident in which police say he hurled a telephone at the concierge of the Mercer Street Hotel in Manhattan.

If convicted of assault, he could face up to seven years in prison. Crowe has publicly apologized for the incident and his publicist has said the actor threw the phone against a wall rather than at the concierge.

Reuters/VNU

And be forced to fight in a gladatorial areana for the amusement of the masses, until he can finally confront his family's murderer!

...sorry, I just got a bit carried away.

I have a better chance at winning the lottery than that happening.

I wish they would do a prequel focusing on Hannibal and his defiance of the Romans. He did end up committing suicide as an old man as the Romans came to get him but they could change the ending so that Russell Crowe kills him in battle. :)

Yeah, Maximus died, so what? They can always clone him! :nopanic:

There is already a projected Hannibal (Barca, not Lecter) movie, starring Vin Diesel. :thmbsdwn:

Gladiator II? I thought Private has already made it as well as the third... oh, wait...


;)

Hounsou was terrible in The Island.

Figured this was inevitable.

There are movies that stand alone, and any attempt at a sequel would just ruin the power of the original. I think Gladiator is one of those movies. It doesn't need a sequel, but big box-office bucks is the bottom line.

Man, this was been rumored for a while now. Maybe it will eventually come out, or maybe it will be like those Batman or Office Space SE DVDs that have rumored for about 5 years :) (Okay the Batman stuff probably will actually see the light of day)

I'm not holding my breath for Gladiator II. It sounds too direct-to-video.

i can see gladiator as a stand alone, but didn't it end with rome in a sort of shambles? so he gave it back to the senate. is that all it takes to return rome to its former glory?

there's the option that we're all pretty aware rome collapses at some point.

they're not without options that make sense.

You think after Kingdom of Heaven flopped, they might be a little more cautious.

Well, considering it is called Gladiator, why would it have to focus on Crowe's character. He wasn't the only gladiator. Just make a story about a different gladiator.

Vin Diesel said he's doing it afte Riddick.

Yeah, but that project doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

That would be quite a prequel as Hannibal died around 183 BCE and Gladiator starts with the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 CE. Maximus had quite a long life!

I'm sure the writers of the ridiculous ABC series Empire could pull it off. :)

I can't believe they are even considering this...

Perhaps if they went in the direction of distancing themselves from the original (like The Fugitive/U.S. Marshals) I could tolerate it because it wouldn't take away from the original.

We'll see...

That was cute but use BC and AD.

"Common Era" and "Before Common Era" are much more appropriate terms for secular discussion of history.

As for this film - I've heard rumors of a Gladiator sequel/spinoff since the film came out. For a short while, there was roman-mania; remember when they wanted to make a roman-era detective show for TV?

Who are you, Pope Duff Beer IV?

:lol:

agreed

I completely agree. But...

...if they are going to insist on franchising Gladiator, a prequel focusing on Maximus' time leading the Roman army would potentially be much better (of course that would hinge on Crowe reprising the role). Anyway you look at it, I think any type of sequel is a horrible idea.

I didn't know that. Those Romans were in power a long time.