Denzel Washington has been a part of a lot of critical blockbusters throughout his star-studded career to earn a fair name and reputation for himself as one of the finest veterans in the entertainment industry. His projects have grossed fairly well at the box office as well, with his recently released Gladiator 2 reportedly setting a new record for him as his highest-grossing movie.

Gladiator 2. | Credits: Paramount Pictures.

Made on a colossal $250 million production budget, the sequel to the titular masterpiece from 2000 has been received with more or less mixed reviews, but has still managed to earn a commendable revenue at the global box office. But even though its earnings have been fairly appreciable, the said movie also seems to be his least profitable one after a proper box office analysis.

Denzel Washington’s Gladiator 2 may have minimal profits despite high box office gross

Nearly a quarter century after the release of the critical and commercial masterpiece Gladiator (2000), filmmaker Ridley Scott finally returned to the screens with its sequel — with a more star-studded cast and an even greater budget. Though, this time around, his R-rated project seems to have failed to work its charm on the global box offices.

Denzel Washington. | Credits: Gladiator II / Paramount Pictures.

According to the stats by Variety, Gladiator 2 was met with a somewhat solid opening in over its release weekend as it made a little over $55 million from 3,573 cinemas. Of course, these numbers recorded were behind expectations. Then there’s the film’s total domestic and international gross at the box office, which currently stand at $154 million and $252.6 million respectievly.

Overall, per Box Office Mojo, the action/adventure/drama flick managed to bring in a whopping $406.6 million from its global box office performance, easily becoming The Equalizer star’s highest-grossing movie to date.

But while these overall numbers seem profitable (even though they rank behind expectations), they are not so while considering the budget of the same.

Per Variety, the Pedro Pascal-starrer was made on a colossal budget of $250 million — and this was just the production budget. Adding to this were the additional costs of promotion, which the source claims to have been roughly around $100 million. That said, to be deemed an actually profitable project, it needed a gross that surpassed its combined cost of at least $350 million.

Denzel Washington. | Credits: Gladiator II / Paramount Pictures.

However, the film is done airing theatrically, so the overall profits earned don’t seem to be standing all that high. Additionally, comparing it with the original film sets the bar even higher, for the 2000 flick made $465.5 million globally on its $103 million budget (via Box Office Mojo) — not only boasting a much lesser budget than its sequel but also greater worldwide revenue numbers.

That being said, even though Gladiator 2 may have managed to become Denzel Washington‘s highest-grossing movie to date, it may as well be ranked among his least profitable ones considering its minute overall profit in front of the massive big bucks invested in its making and promotion.

Gladiator 2 is already setting its eyes on a digital release

Denzel Washington. | Credits: Gladiator II / Paramount Pictures.

On the one hand, while the movie managed to make $400 million+ from its global box office performance, it still seems to have lagged, as is especially evident from its above-done box office analysis. If that wasn’t enough, what further appears to be supporting its tanking reports are indications that the film will be having its digital release only one month after its theatrical release.

As per reports by Decider, the film is already headed to its digital release as it will be available to buy digitally on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Vudu, and more, from Tuesday, December 24, 12 a.m. ET. This clearly means that, even though it wasn’t a box office flop, Paramount is still hoping to earn some extra dollars through the film’s “premium” video-on-demand release.

All of this said, it’s unarguable that even though this sequel to Gladiator may have achieved a new milestone for Washington, its profitability is still a whole different story. Even as it aims to earn more through it’s digital release, it can’t be denied that despite its impressive box office gross, the film’s massive production and promotion costs may as well have eaten into its profits.