Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Dominic Brigstocke
Screenplay by	Jessica Swale Giles Pilbrow Caroline Norris
Based on	Horrible Histories by Terry Deary
Produced by	Will Clarke Caroline Norris
Starring	Emilia Jones Sebastian Croft Nick Frost Craig Roberts Kate Nash Rupert Graves Alex Macqueen Lee Mack Warwick Davis Sanjeev Bhaskar Alexander Armstrong Chris Addison Derek Jacobi Kim Cattrall
Cinematography	John Sorapure
Edited by	Nigel Williams
Music by	Richie Webb Matt Katz Iain Farrington
Production companies	Altitude Film Entertainment Amazon Prime Video Ingenious Media Silver Reel CBBC BBC Films Citrus Films Scholastic Entertainment Lion Television
Distributed by	Altitude Film Distribution
Release date	26 July 2019 (2019-07-26) (United Kingdom)[1]
Running time	92 minutes[2]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	$3.8 million[3]

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 to mixed reviews.^[4]

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 Boudican revolt's 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, including in the Roman villa and Iron Age village at Butser Ancient Farm in Hampshire, and Iron Age roundhouses at Celtic Harmony in Hertfordshire.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Reception

Box office

Rotten Romans opened to $754,973 in the United Kingdom.^[3] As of 1 November 2019^[update], 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 29 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. 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."^[11]

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.^[12]

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".^[13]

References

External links

• Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans at IMDb