Well, no one could accuse them of rushing it. Seven years after the unexpected smash success of Zack Snyder’s 300 – based on the comic book mini-series by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley – a follow-up called 300: Rise of an Empire is finally ready to hit theaters on March 7, 2014. You’ve seen the trailer, you know looks more or less the same: a hyper-stylized, ultraviolent depiction of Ancient Greek warfare, but what else do you really know? The plot has been kept pretty vague, waffling between a prequel about Persian leader Xerxes to a proper sequel about the rest of the Persian invasion, or both. Hell, it could be about a mild-manner veterinarian who falls in love with an Estonian diplomat for all the trailers are telling us (although that wouldn’t explain all the half-naked soldiers cutting each other).
We’ll be able to tell you all about 300: Rise of an Empire in about a week, but until then we thought we’d help you figure out what the hell is really going on with this long-anticipated follow-up to a pop culture sensation with this, Our Top 5 Questions.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
300: Rise of an Empire - Our Top 5 Questions
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What Took So Damned Long?
Plans for a 300 sequel or prequel were announced in 2008, two years after 300 came out, a lifetime by Hollywood’s standards today. (Get ready for The LEGO Movie 2 in 2017!) As for the delay, it may have something to do with the producers waiting for Frank Miller to publish a comic book on which to base a movie, which the notoriously deadline-shy creator has still failed to do. Eventually they just went ahead and started production anyway, but yeah, seven years is a pretty long time to follow up on the original 300’s zeitgeist.
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What is Rise of an Empire Even About?
That’s… an excellent question actually. The trailers are pretty vague, but actually the film focuses on The Battle of Artemisium, in a naval battle that happened at the same time as the Battle of Thermopylae, which Zack Snyder dramatized in the original 300. Like the battle in 300, the battle in 300: Rise of an Empire found the Greeks hopelessly outnumbered 4:1. The Greeks are led by Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton), who won the first war with the Persian Empire, and the Persian Navy is led by Artemisia (Eva Green), who has her own grudge with the Greeks.
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Who the Hell is Noam Murro?
Original 300 director has stayed on board as a co-writer and producer, and he was going to direct as well until Man of Steel came along. He’s been replaced by Noam Murro, a director with only one feature film to his name: Smart People, a low budget comedy starring Dennis Quaid, Thomas Haden Church, Ellen Page and Sarah Jessica Parker. Doesn’t quite fit does it? But Murro has been on Hollywood’s action franchise short list for a while, and even left the director’s chair of A Good Day to Die Hard to make 300: Rise of an Empire instead. Given how the last Die Hard worked out, it looks like he may have made a wise choice.
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Do Audiences Still Care About Frank Miller?
Frank Miller has cemented his place in comic book history with groundbreaking runs on Daredevil and Batman, and his own creations Sin City, 300 and Ronin, but although Sin City was a cult hit and 300 did gangbuster business his cinema credibility dropped to nearly zero after he wrote and directed the box office bomb, and genuinely awful adaptation of Will Eisner’s The Spirit. His comic book output has been pretty limited in the last decade too, leading many critics to say he peaked 20 years ago. You may have also noticed that his name is no longer an important part of this franchise’s marketing. Robert Rodriguez has another Sin City in the pipeline for later this year, but it’s another adaptation of Miller’s older work. Unless The Dark Knight Rises ever gets made, Frank Miller adaptations may be finished after 2014.
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Why Is It Stilled Called 300?
Because the first film was called 300, that’s why. The Battle of Artemisium was fought by more than 300 Greeks with less than 300 ships. The title no longer makes any sense whatsoever except to remind audiences that Rise of an Empire is the sequel to a movie called 300 that they really, really, REALLY hope you remember fondly. It’s kind of like I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, although hopefully it’s a better movie.
