# Could there be a third "300" movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 2, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179 "2014-04-02T16:39:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/1 "2014-04-02T16:39:35Z")
The logical next step in the series would be one about the Peloponnesian War, Athens v. Sparta. Plenty of kickass action there – but the complex politics of that war would seem to resist comic-book treatment – who are the bad guys?! ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/2 "2014-04-02T16:43:30Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > – who are the bad guys?! I don’t know, but if they have a weakness for washboard abs, gods help them. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/3 "2014-04-02T16:51:58Z")
Have Alcibiades as the main character, and make it a comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/4 "2014-04-02T16:56:58Z")
I amused that you think the 300 franchise would in anyway be constrained by historical realities. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/5 "2014-04-02T17:02:55Z")
It would be madness. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/6 "2014-04-02T17:12:33Z")
Seriously, though, if you want another sword-and-sandal epic with some Greeks and Persians in it, I always thought that Xenophon’s \*Anabasis \* might make a good movie. It has already inspired _The Warriors_, although that one is obviously set in New York City. Also, \*The Ten Thousand \*is a pretty good title, if sequel inflation of \*300 \*is what you’re looking for. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Burden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jack\_Burden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Burden)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/7 "2014-04-02T17:15:15Z")
Steven Pressfield’s treatments of Thermopylae ( **Gates of Fire** ) and Alcibiades/Peloponnesian War ( **Tides of War** ) are both excellent and would translate well to film, though I doubt the author would consent to his phalanx wearing only well-sculpted abs for body armor. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/8 "2014-04-02T18:09:06Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Have Alcibiades as the main character, and make it a comedy. I think that might confuse the audience. “Wait, whose side is Alcibiades on now?” The answer is his side of course. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/9 "2014-04-02T19:08:39Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The logical next step in the series would be one about the Peloponnesian War, Athens v. Sparta. Plenty of kickass action there – but the complex politics of that war would seem to resist comic-book treatment – who are the bad guys?! I’d say the battle of Plataea forms a logical third 300 movie subject: > **[Battle of Plataea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Plataea)** > > The Battle of Plataea was the final land battle during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place in 479 BC near the city of Plataea in Boeotia, and was fought between an alliance of the Greek city-states (including Sparta, Athens, Corinth and Megara), and the Achaemenid Empire of Xerxes I (allied with Greek states including Boeotia, Thessalia, and Macedon). > At the preceding Battle of Salamis, the allied Greek navy had won an unlikely but decisive victory, preventing the conquest of ... … albeit, in the movie version, with legions of crab-footed creatures in the Persian front ranks. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/10 "2014-04-02T20:23:53Z")
I didn’t know there was a 2nd 300 movie. I thought the first wasn’t nearly as bad as it might have been – it was just average bad. And I rather like the credits, which give it a few bonus points. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/11 "2014-04-02T20:42:44Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > It would be madness. Since when is that any objection in Hollywood? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/12 "2014-04-02T20:53:25Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I didn’t know there was a 2nd 300 movie. > > I thought the first wasn’t nearly as bad as it might have been – it was just average bad. And I rather like the credits, which give it a few bonus points. I wish I could bring Herodotus back from the dead just to watch that movie. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/13 "2014-04-02T20:54:16Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I think that might confuse the audience. “Wait, whose side is Alcibiades on now?” The answer is his side of course. That’s not confusing, it’s a standard comedic convention. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/14 "2014-04-02T22:26:51Z")
300 vs Predator I’ll take my millions now. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/15 "2014-04-02T22:39:00Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > 300 vs Predator > > I’ll take my millions now. I think I spotted Predator in the front ranks of the Persians at Thermopylae in the first movie … 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/16 "2014-04-02T22:53:22Z")
You people are slipping (or its not 2006 anymore)… > [@robert\_columbia](#): > > It would be madness. IT. WOULD. BE. SPARTA! ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/17 "2014-04-03T11:12:50Z")
Am I the only one here who thinks that the 2nd one sucked big time??? ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/18 "2014-04-03T15:08:11Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Am I the only one here who thinks that the 2nd one sucked big time??? I dunno if I’d say it sucked big time, but it was absolutely forgettable after the first 15 minutes. When they originally announced the sequel, I thought it was supposed to be all about Xerxes? I was hoping for a lot more weirdness, awesome surreal visuals, etc. That mostly didn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/19 "2014-04-03T15:26:25Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > I’d say the battle of Plataea forms a logical third 300 movie subject Not much tension left, though, with Xerxes returning home and the Persians on the retreat. It would be hard to make Plataea look like anything more than a Greek mop-up job, although the reality wasn’t quite that simple. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179/20 "2014-04-03T15:42:56Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Not much tension left, though, with Xerxes returning home and the Persians on the retreat. It would be hard to make Plataea look like anything more than a Greek mop-up job, although the reality wasn’t quite that simple. It was supposed (by the Persians) to be a _Persian_ mop-up job … 😉 After all, Athens was burned to the ground, one of the Spartan kings killed in battle, and most Greek cities had submitted. True, the Persians had suffered a naval setback, but only in hindsight does that look decisive - Mardonius had quite reasonable expectations of becomming the Satrap of Greece. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-third-300-movie/685179.md?page=2)