It can be difficult to quantify the impact a historical film has on popular memory, especially with a film such as 300: Rise of an Empire (2014) that merely appropriates historical names, places, and events. While it gained mediocre reviews at best and failed to live up to 300 (2007), the film still grossed $330 million worldwide, only $120 million shy of its predecessor. However, it only pulled in another $32 million in DVD and Blu-Ray sales in the US alone whereas 300 pulled in $280 million (source). Still, 300: Rise of an Empire spent 6 weeks in the top 20 home purchases and another six weeks in the top 20 rentals last year (source).
If the original 300 brought Leonidas and Thermopylae back as household names in the US, will anyone remember the historical names of Artemisia, Themistocles, and Salamis? The answers lies somewhere between probably not and definitely not.
To quantify the impact of 300: Rise of an Empire, it is worth seeing how it affected peoples’ interest after seeing the film. Did they go to the Internet to learn more about these characters and events? Yes, they did.
This is easy to measure by examining the US-based searches for Artemisia and Themistocles. These names are especially useful, as they do not appear in the title or any of the poster art. No one was searching “Artemisia show times” when this movie opened, but there was still a spike in searches and the results are interesting. It was Artemisia who people searched, as opposed to the heroic Themistocles. Around the release of the film, the villain saw nearly 2.5-times more searches in the US.
This spike in interest pales in comparison to what Leonidas garnered when 300 hit theaters in 2007. Even though he was dead in the sequel, none of these historical figures has garnered more interest than Leonidas.
Similarly, did anyone care about the Battle of Salamis, the climax of the film? Yes, there was a spike, but nothing spectacular. In addition, it too pales in comparison to the Battle of Thermopylae, featured in the original movie. If anything, last year’s movie about Salamis did more to spark interest in Thermopylae.
So, will anyone remember Artemisia, Themistocles, or Salamis? Artemisia has gained slightly more interest, but Themistocles and Salamis will return to near obscurity among the US public.
