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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rainbow_gladiators_of_rome.png]]
2 [[caption-width-right:350:A very unlikely hero...]]
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4''Gladiators of Rome'' is an Italian AllCGICartoon movie made by [[Creator/RainbowSrl Rainbow SpA]], an animation studio jointly owned by Iginio Straffi and Creator/{{Viacom}} at the time. It was Rainbow's first original film, and Viacom released it through their subsidiary [[Creator/{{Paramount}} Paramount Pictures]]. The movie is a comedy about a lazy and thick-headed Roman named Timo who decides to turn his life around and become a gladiator. It premiered in Italy on October 18, 2012.
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6To write the script, Iginio Straffi enlisted the help of Michael J. Wilson (the American creator of the ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'' franchise). It took over five years for the film to be completed, since it used up a lot of the Rainbow studio's resources. By the end of development, Straffi was so confident in the film that he floated the idea of a ''Gladiators'' [[Main/{{Spinoff}} TV Spinoff]] in [[https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2012/10/08/gladiatori-di-cartoon.html?refresh_ce this interview.]]
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8The movie is notorious among Rainbow fans for [[Main/BoxOfficeBomb bombing at the box office]]: it only made back $10 million (€9 million in euros) worldwide...against an investment of ''$80 million'' (€70 million in euros). The financial loss spilled over into everything else that Rainbow was working on at the time. Most notable was the seventh season of ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'', which was hit with budget cuts halfway through production. [[note]]Two expensive elements of the previous 2 seasons (3D computer-generated segments and the Hollywood voice cast) were dropped from the 7th season entirely.[[/note]] It's safe to say that the ''Gladiators'' spin-off won't be happening anytime soon.
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11!!''Gladiators of Rome'' provides examples of the following tropes:
12* AdvertisingByAssociation: Some trailers and DVD covers highlighted the film's connections to ''Winx Club'', also created by Iginio Straffi. The [[https://www.golddisk.ru/goods_img/46/46590.jpg Russian release cover]] is one example.
13* ActionGirl: Diana, the gladiator trainer.
14* AffectionateParody: Of serious gladiator movies.
15* AncientRome: Set in this time period, specifically during the reign of Emperor Domitian.
16* AnachronismStew: Despite being placed in Ancient Rome, it has Lucilla's father saying tweet although that Twitter didn't exist then, Cassio mentioning Goldilocks, Timo singing ''If You're Happy and You Know it'', Timo going to balcony of Lucilla's home like Romeo from Romeo and Juliet, Diana saying ''cowboy'' and the one of the gladiator babies chewing bubblegum and blowing a bubble that makes him fly mid-air (Bubblegum wasn't invented in the late 19th and early 20th century and babies are too young to chew bubblegum.)
17* BalconyWooingScene: Timo does this when he goes up to the balcony at Lucilla's home.
18* ButtMonkey: Timo is treated like a useless idiot for most of the movie, nobody respects him, and gets a lot of AmusingInjuries even during his training with Diana.
19* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Timo's main goal is winning the heart of Lucilla, his childhood friend.
20* FatAndSkinny: Timo's two friends, Mauritius and Ciccius. Ciccius is the fat one with a MeaningfulName ("ciccio" is an informal word for "chubby") and Mauritius is the thin one.
21* GladiatorGames: Who would've guessed?
22* HeroAcademy: Chiron's Gladiator Academy.
23* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Domitian was a real-life emperor of Rome.
24* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Lucilla, in contrast to the seductive and snarky Diana.
25* LazyBum: Timo is an unmotivated slacker one for most of his early life. He decides to change to win Lucilla's heart.
26* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Lucilla is demure and innocently beautiful (Light), Diana is a tough, mysterious MsFanservice who wears skimpy clothes (Dark).
27* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Lucilla's pet bunny, Grubbo.
28%%* SwordAndSandal
29* ScreenShake: Used several times in the movie, In the beginning of the movie, The screen shakes when the volcano is about erupts and the screen shakes rapidly when the volcano is ready to erupt.
30* TrophyWife: Why Cassio wants to marry Lucilla.

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