Gladiator 2 and Mortal Kombat 2 cease production amid actors’ strike and the overseas execs respond

Last Updated on August 4, 2023

Hollywood comes at a standstill after the Screen Actors Guild voted on a strike after negotiations broke down with the studio system in which Disney’s Bob Iger, Warner Bros’ David Zaslav, and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos called in Federal mediators for assistance with the conference. The Writers’ Guild had been on strike since the beginning of May, and the Screen Actors Guild will now join in picketing in a dual strike that hasn’t been seen since 1960. The plane of entertainment, however, is much more glut than the last time this happened. This is especially significant with streaming services and studio franchises running marathons of constant competition with each other.

Variety reports that among the projects that have prepared to shut down are Ridley Scott’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning Gladiator, and the sequel to the 2021 re-adaptation of the popular video game Mortal Kombat. Interestingly, many of these big-budget Hollywood projects film on location outside of the country. The U.K. houses many film productions and had seen a slowdown prior to the strikes. A senior British union executive, who asked to keep their identity secret, has said, “We’ve always said if the circus leaves town, what sorts of indigenous production do we have? Large parts of Europe and Australia will be in the same situation, and this will have a global impact. We have been relying on inward investment and this exposes a weak point.”

A top agent who manages a lot of high-profile British stars added, “A lot of actors are talking about striking in support, and it will undoubtedly affect the business in the U.K. as a whole.” While a U.S.-based financier asks, “Some British actors have done one or two U.S. movies and gotten into SAG-AFTRA. Will they go in solidarity with the strike?” And another European film exec adds, “Let’s say we’re shooting something with a big European director in Europe, and 90% of the cast is European and non-SAG-AFTRA, but you have two key roles played by U.S. talent. Will the movie stop and not get done or will those roles be substituted with European non-SAG-AFTRA actors? I suspect what will happen is it will depend on the talent. If the reception is, ‘This is going to be a quick strike,’ directors will say, ‘Let’s wait.’ But if it looks like a long one, it could mean those roles will be changed.”