Movies
‘Gladiator 2′ breaks its first pre-release record and Ridley Scott is rubbing his hands with glee
The movie’s budget skyrocketed, but the director made more than $160 million from places no one expected.
Ridley Scott is back, and this time in a big way. Since last year, the British filmmaker has been in Malta shooting his new project, which is none other than the sequel to one of his most beloved films in history: ‘Gladiator’.
The movie, which stars actors such as Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal and is set years after the original, began filming on the Mediterranean island last year. Since this is a sequel coming almost 25 years after the original, and given the recent box office performance of “Napoleon” (Scott’s previous film), all signs point to a resounding failure.
But for now, the only thing this movie has done is to make a lot of money. This was possible thanks to the record-breaking tax breaks the movie received for being filmed in Malta.
According to the ‘Times of Malta,’ the government of the country of the same name gave Scott’s film a 40% bonus for shooting on the Mediterranean island. The incentive, offered by the country’s film commission, is part of a European Union program to encourage foreign filming on the continent through bonuses. In the case of Malta, the bonus amounts to 46.7 million euros (equivalent to $160 million).
These profits will be more than necessary considering that the rumored budget for ‘Gladiator 2′ is between $250 million and $310 million (doubling the original budget of $165 million and making it one of the most expensive films in history).
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