Gladiator II release was given a pre-Thanksgiving debut opposite Wicked in domestic theaters, though it opened in certain international markets a week earlier.

Per Variety, as of Sunday morning, Gladiator II is projected to take in a 3-day domestic opening weekend gross of $55.5 million. That total, combined with its international grosses from the first ten days of its run, brings its cumulative worldwide box office total to $221 million. Not only does that make the movie the 17th highest-grossing movie of the year so far, it has already outgrossed the overall worldwide grosses of 19 of the 27 major releases that Scott has previously directed over the years, including 1979's Alien ($188 million) and 1982's Blade Runner ($39.6 million).

What This Means For Gladiator II

It Has A Shot At No. 1

One of the Scott films that the new movie has not yet outgrossed is the original Gladiator, which earned $451.7 million worldwide, becoming the second highest-grossing movie of 2000 behind Mission: Impossible II. However, there are quite a few movies in his filmography that the new movie will likely sur within one more week, including Alien: Covenant ($238.5 million) and Exodus: Gods and Kings ($268.3 million). Below, see a breakdown of all eight Ridley Scott movies that have earned more than Gladiator II’s current global gross:

Gladiator II reviews, which have earned the movie a Certified Fresh score of 71% on Rotten Tomatoes, have not been quite as positive as those for the original, which is Certified Fresh at 80%. However, the audience scores for both movies are about equal, with the original earning 87% and the sequel earning 84%. This means that word of mouth for the two movies could be similar, in which case, if it keeps up its current trajectory relative to the original, it could eventually gross $740 million or more worldwide, which would easily make it the highest-grossing Ridley Scott movie.

Our Take On The Gladiator II Global Box Office

The Movie Needs To Be Huge In Order To Succeed

It is likely a good thing for Gladiator II that it is on track to become one of the director's highest-grossing movies, because it also comes with a costly production budget estimated to be between $210 and $310 million. Because movies typically need to earn back two and a half times their price tags in theaters, this could place its break-even point somewhere between $525 and $775 million, which are totals that in and of themselves either exceed every movie Ridley Scott has previously made or fall just below his No. 1 movie, The Martian.

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Source: Variety