Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans

Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans is a 2019 British historical comedy film directed by Dominic Brigstocke, based on the book series of the same name by author Terry Deary, and the television series of 2009 and 2015 on CBBC. The film production, of one of the stories, was announced in March 2016. The film is a co production, between Altitude Film Entertainment, BBC Films and Citrus Films. It was released on 26 July 2019.[4]

Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans
Theatrical release poster (United Kingdom)
Directed byDominic Brigstocke
Produced by
  • Will Clarke
  • Caroline Norris
Screenplay by
Based onHorrible Histories
by Terry Deary
Starring
Music by
CinematographyJohn Sorapure
Edited byNigel Williams
Production
companies
  • Altitude Film Entertainment
  • BBC Films
  • Citrus Films
Distributed byAltitude Film Distribution
Release date
  • 26 July 2019 (2019-07-26) (United Kingdom)[1]
Running time
92 minutes[2]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$3.8 million[3]

Synopsis

Atti, a Roman teenager with brains but no muscle, is always coming up with schemes, but one of these upsets Emperor Nero. For his punishment, he is sent to cold wet Britain on the fringe of the Roman Empire.

Whilst in Britain, he is captured by Orla, a feisty Celt, but they eventually come to an understanding, but to Atti's horror, when he is returned to his regiment, he finds himself pitted against Orla and her tribe at the Battle of Watling Street.[5]

Cast

Production

The rights to a film were optioned from the Horrible Histories author, Terry Deary. The project was filmed in Bulgaria and the United Kingdom.[7][8]

Reception

Box office

Rotten Romans opened to $754,973 in the United Kingdom.[3] As of 1 November 2019, the film has earned a total of $3.7 million, at the box office.[3]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 69%, based on twenty six reviews, with an average rating of 5.76/10. The website's consensus says, "Charmingly broad and appropriately goofy, Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans lands its punchlines often enough to entertain its target audience."[9] Peter Bradshaw gave the film three out of five stars.

He describes Derek Jacobi reprising the role which made him famous in 1976 as the Emperor Claudius, as the film's most sensational coup. Bradshaw calls the film "a decent bit of school holiday entertainment" although he felt the broad humour was aimed at (very young) audiences, and not as good as the film Bill, which was produced by the writers and actors from the television series of Horrible Histories.[10]

Wendy Ide gave the film two out of five stars, and felt that the film lacked some of the "essential rottenness", as the linear format of the film rather than the skit based structure of the series led to a loss of "the punchy hit rate of gung ho, gross out that made the series such a deliciously uncouth pleasure".[11]

References
  1. Warner, Sam (1 March 2019). "We're all Fartacus in first trailer for Horrible Histories movie". Digital Spy. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  2. "Horrible Histories". British Board of Film Classification.
  3. "Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans (2019) – Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  4. "Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans". Filmoria.co.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  5. White, James (3 October 2018). "Horrible Histories Movie In The Works". Empire. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  6. "BBC – Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans gets cinema release date – BBC Films". BBC. 15 October 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  7. Doward, Jamie (27 March 2016). "Horrible Histories: the Movie is coming soon, says creator Terry Deary". The Observer. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  8. Grater, Tom (3 October 2018). "'Horrible Histories: The Movie' reveals cast and first look". Screen Daily. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  9. "Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  10. Bradshaw, Peter (26 July 2019). "Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans review – the empire strikes back". The Guardian.
  11. Ide, Wendy (28 July 2019). "Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans review: too much teen drama". The Observer. The Guardian.
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