Gladiator II has reached a tremendous global box office gross that places it in the upper echelon of Ridley Scott's filmography. The director, who also helmed the original 2000 movie, has returned with the belated sequel, which follows Lucius (Paul Mescal), the son of Russell Crowe's original character Maximus, as he seeks revenge against the Roman empire while fighting in the gladiator arena. The 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...