"The Last Duel" is about to be released in North America on October 15, and while promoting the new film, director Ridley Scott revealed that he will continue to make blockbusters with medieval themes.
If nothing else, it is "Gladiator 2", which has been exposed in 2018.
You read that right, it was indeed the orthodox sequel to Gladiator, which was released in 2000 and won the 73rd Academy Award for Best Picture.
The rise of Hollywood's classic reboot eventually spread to the Oscars for Best Picture.
Although Ridley Scott appeared in person, there are many voices on the Internet that are worried about this sequel.
First of all, the success rate of this classic reboot is not high, and the commercial success seems to be only "Jurassic World", "Star Wars Episode VII", and these are all based on series movies;
The only word-of-mouth success is Blade Runner 2049.
Perhaps Lei Gong wants to expand the stories he has directed, like "Alien" and "Blade Runner" two science fiction classics have a grander time view system, then "Gladiator", as the leader of medieval movies, naturally has the qualification to continue to write legends.
But classics are not so easy to shoot, sometimes not only because of the strength of the author, but also because they are at the peak of creation.
So sometimes many classics pull the original class of people, but also far less than the previous works.
Lei Gong is already over 80 years old, and his strength is beyond doubt, but at this age, it is too harsh to ask him to create another career peak.
The reputation of "Prometheus" and "Alien" are one class behind, which is related to his creative state and mentality.
Of course, some critics would argue that it was an underrated prequel film.
In short, whether Lei Gong himself is out of the horse or as a producer, the probability of reaching the height of "Blade Runner 2049" is too low.
That being the case, what is the need to take risks?
Then there's the characters in Gladiator who are all "perfect" and can't be continued.
Even if forced to return, Russell Crowe, who won the Oscar for this film, can no longer go back.
Without suspense, he has confirmed that he will not return to the show.
And you can see him playing the role of Zeus in "Thor 4".
The protagonist may have been Joaquin Phoenix, who was crowned god through "Joker".
In "Gladiator", the main villain, Emperor Kommodus, is played by him.
It is reported that the sequel story will take place about twenty or thirty years later, and the protagonist will be Lucius, the nephew of Commodus.
Given the blood ties, Joaquin Phoenix had a reason to play that role.
And Phoenix has finalized the Napoleon biographical film "Soldier Bags" that will be filmed in cooperation with Lei Gong, and for the return, he said that after filming this Napoleon, he can immediately shoot "Gladiator 2"!
But since it's a whole new story, why not just open an original movie?
The possible reason is that medieval cinema is outdated, and if it costs too much, minutes will not return to the original. If it is a "Gladiator" sequel, it is better to get investment.
"The Last Duel" can get investment, that is because Matt Damon has always wanted to shoot, he and Ben Affleck are both still popular actors, two people came forward, plus the addition of Lei Gong later, can start shooting smoothly.
Even if the project is in the hands of Disney, Disney is also very supportive.
However, if "The Last Duel" fails at the box office, then Hollywood studios will see this as a lesson from the past, which is bound to affect the cost of "Gladiator 2".
Even if you are lucky enough to set up a project, the investment you will receive will be limited.
If there is not enough cost, it may have to be like "Joker".
It's just that the screenwriter hired Peter Clegg, who wrote "Hunger Games: Mockingbirds" and "Top Gun", who is better at commercial films, and the last work was "Jedi X-Men: Rush"...
If it is not the author of the movie, then the quality of Gladiator 2...
It's right to lower expectations.