Based on the critical reception of the original “Gladiator,” you wouldn’t have thought it would become the juggernaut it became. Almost half a billion dollars later, “Gladiator” turned up big at the 72nd Academy Awards, earning twelve nominations and taking home five statues, including Best Picture. The 2000 film certainly remains one of the more prolific Best Picture winners, cementing a legacy for itself that only ages like fine wine as people have re-discovered it over the last 24 years. Now, all this time later, we seem to find ourselves in the same spot with “Gladiator II.” While the film is opening to mostly positive reviews and a potentially massive box office haul, it indeed isn’t the most critically beloved blockbuster to release this year. Yet, it joins an exciting group of bubble Oscar contenders floating around as films that could make their way into this year’s Best Picture lineup. Will it live up to the legacy left behind by its predecessor, or will it fall to the wayside? Here’s how “Gladiator II” could find victory with AMPAS voters at the Oscars.
Let’s start with the categories where “Gladiator II” shouldn’t have any issues appearing in this awards season. If all goes well, the film should have a significant presence below the line, where plenty of Scott’s films earn recognition. Two standouts in the craft categories are both the costume and production design. Both fields have been recognized for previous films in Scott’s career, including the first “Gladiator” and last year’s “Napoleon.” Arthur Max’s production design is as grand as ever, creating massively extravagant sets, whether it’s recreating the Colosseum (but on an even larger scale again), elaborate set pieces like the opening in Numidia, or gorgeous interiors of the Senate halls, the film is massive in its scope and far eclipses what Scott and his team achieved with the first film. Janty Yates and David Crossman’s costuming this time around is as decadent as it is intricate. Yates, who won the Oscar for Best Costume Design for the first film, tops the work she’d previously done. Their respective guilds will easily back the work on display, which more than speaks for itself. “Gladiator II” can also pop up in other technical categories, such as Best Sound and Visual Effects, if enough voters see it and are entertained by it.
That being said, there are categories where it’ll struggle below the line. Best Original Score seems less likely this time around. Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer, who co-wrote the score for the original film with Lisa Gerard, didn’t return for the sequel as frequent Scott collaborator Henry Gregson-Williams stepped in. Gregson-Williams delivers solid work, but it never lives up to what Zimmer achieved with “Gladiator.” It doesn’t help that the best moments are also when Gregson-Williams is implementing some of Zimmer’s iconic motifs. “Gladiator II” also probably won’t appear in categories like Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing as the first film did, as these are other categories stacked with various contenders that are more beloved.
Earlier in the year, “Gladiator II” looked to be far stronger of a threat as a Best Picture contender sight unseen. Now that the film has been seen and has given the impression of a movie that is more of a crowd-pleasing spectacle than a prestige awards contender, it has seen its chances of landing in the above-the-line categories dwindle. Earlier in the year, many (including myself) thought Scott could earn a Best Director nomination. Now, that idea has more than faded away. The possibility of “Gladiator II” earning a screenplay nomination is also out the window as that seems to be one of the more criticized aspects of the film. The one guaranteed nomination in the above-the-line categories is for Denzel Washington in Best Supporting Actor. Besides the fact that if Washington sneezed, he could earn an Oscar nomination, he’s genuinely amazing in the film. He is having a blast on screen in “Gladiator II” as he’s chewing up the scenery and stealing the audience’s attention from literally everyone else in the ensemble. With how the acting races have ebbed and flowed due to the number of contenders in this post-strike year, the legendary Washington has a comfortable slot carved out for himself in this year’s Best Supporting Actor lineup.
The prospect of Paul Mescal swirling around the Best Actor conversation is an interesting one, to say the least. As the year is coming to a close and televised awards are slowly approaching, there’s this weird feeling that if Paramount played their cards right, they could pull this off. Sure, Mescal is benefiting from a post-strikes awards season, but he’s now cemented himself as a movie star capable of leading a big blockbuster film and not just small independent dramas. Not only has he been recognized by several major awards bodies, but he was also nominated for Best Actor at the Academy Awards only a few years ago for his devastating, understated work in “Aftersun.” If anything, Mescal is a far bigger name now than he was a few years ago, and he is only going up from here. If “Gladiator II” makes it into the Best Picture lineup, Mescal could coattail his way to a nomination in a Best Actor category that is struggling to find a fifth name to compete alongside presumed nominees Adrien Brody (“The Brutalist“), Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave“), Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing“), and Timothee Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown“). That being said, it doesn’t help that his co-star Washington has been singled out by every single viewer as the standout performance of the film. Also, with names like Jesse Eisenberg (“A Real Pain“), Daniel Craig (“Queer“), and even Kingsley Ben-Adir (“Bob Marley: One Love“) working the circuit, it’s getting more challenging for Mescal to remain in the mix.
If Mescal’s name doesn’t appear during the Golden Globes nominations, where there’s a field of six (or even the Critics Choice Awards) and a wide-open drama race, you can kiss that nomination goodbye. In fact, “Gladiator II” as a whole needs to show strength early at the Critic’s Choice and Golden Globes to get some momentum for the rest of the season in the above-the-line categories; otherwise, it will simply be a tech player (plus the obvious Denzel nomination). Maybe with help from the Critics Choice Association alongside guilds like PGA, it squeezes in at the Oscars as the tenth spot? It would be a nomination in the vein of “Nightmare Alley” or James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water,” where a respected filmmaker with a flashy project appears late in the season with enough below-the-line support to muscle their way into Best Picture. Either way, it isn’t a sure-fire lock, but now it’s just a question of whether or not it can perform like those other films did or will it just barely miss the mark like “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” did where it only nabbed a Supporting performance nomination plus some of its crafts?
Do you think “Gladiator II” will enter this year’s Best Picture lineup? Is Ridley Scott fighting an uphill battle this time around for Best Director? Could Paul Mescal somehow get a Best Actor nomination? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section below or on our X account and check out our latest Oscar predictions here.
