The budget of Ridley Scott’s GLADIATOR 2 is truly enormous!

The budget for the director Ridley Scottthe upcoming historical epic Gladiator 2 in the end we went well over budget! According to THR, the initial budget for the production was $165 million, but according to THR, sources say that by the time production wrapped on the film, the budget had risen to around $310 million!

Paramount Pictures insists that the net cost of the 49-day shoot was less than $250 million, but some sources say this is not the case. Those insiders say “it’s a leak” and “it’s not being managed.”

One of the reasons behind the skyrocketing budget was the Hollywood strikes where the studio shelled out $600,000 a week during the shutdown. In total, they say it was about $10 million. But there’s still a lot more money to account for!

The report also points out that there were incidents on set and reports of animal abuse. PETA sent an open letter to Scott in the summer filled with reports of horse and monkey abuse on set, “he reports that sources close to the production deny, pointing out that the Humane Society was on site during filming.”

Regardless, $310 million is a really huge budget and there will be around $150 million invested in the film’s marketing. While there is some excitement about it Gladiator 2there’s a chance the film won’t even break even at the box office with this kind of budget.

The sequel focuses on Lucius, son of Lucilla and grandson of Commodus, son of the Roman leader Marcus Aurelius who killed his father and seized the throne. Commodus met his downfall in the gladiatorial arena against Maximus, who despite being mortally wounded, defeated the emperor before dying to reunite with his family. Maximus had saved Lucius and his mother, leaving a lasting impact on the boy.

Scott revealed some additional details about the story, particularly for Lucius, who he stars as Paolo Mescal in the film, saying: “[Lucius] he’s been in the desert for… let’s see, we last saw him when he was 12 years old. It’s about 12, 15 years later, he’s been in the desert having lost contact with his mother. His mother has lost contact with him. She doesn’t know where he is. She thinks he might be dead.

The film is also the protagonist Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen returns as Lucilla and stars in Stranger Things Joseph Quinn as Emperor Caracalla. Fred Hechinger he will also play Emperor Geta.