4. Gladiator
Just as Attack Of The Clones was getting deep into pre-production, Ridley Scott's Gladiator hit. The film was a huge success, reaping the second highest box office gross of 2000 (an achievement lessened when you discover the first was Mission: Impossible II) and, more importantly as a summer film, winning Best Picture at the Oscars. And it cant have failed to escape George Lucas' notice because one of the pivotal scenes in the second prequel bears a startling resemblance to it. The arena scene in AOTC is exciting, but doesn't really add anything to the movie, aside from killing time until the clones arrive. Its not too much of a stretch to come to the conclusion it's the prequels attempt to cash in on Gladiator's success. This is something RedLetterMedia points out in his reviews and once you realise it, its hard to see it as anything else. The broader beats of the scene don't ally with any particular moment in Gladiator, but clearly Lucas was trying to piggy back on the success of that movie following the lacklustre response to The Phantom Menace.