Fans who have been waiting for a look at the sequel to 2000’s Gladiator will finally get their chance tomorrow, when the trailer officially premieres. It’s been almost two and a half decades since Ridley Scott released the sand-and-sandals epic, Gladiator, which took home five Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell Crowe. In anticipation of the trailer, Paramount debuted the first teaser poster.Gladiator 2 Poster Takes Us Back To The Arena; First Trailer Tomorrow
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While Maximus’ story ended in Gladiator, it’s now his Commodus’ nephew Lucius (this time around played by Paul Mescal) to take to the arena against the Roman general Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal). Years later, we find the former emperor-to-be Lucius living in Africa outside the Roman Empire, When Acacius comes to conquer it, he captures Lucius and brings him back to Rome to fight in the arena. Lucius’ mother Lucilla (the returning Connie Nielsen) is now in love with the Roman general and doesn’t recognize her son after years away.
The only footage that has been seen of the film was released during CinemaCon earlier this year showed Mescal fighting a rhino and baboons, Roman political intrigue, and emperors described as being “even more diabolical than Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus” in the first movie.
The photos revealed Monday had Mescal looking shredded and in fighting form, so it’s almost assuredly going to include some one-on-one sword fighting and taking on animals, similarly to what the original Gladiator trailer showed with the soldiers taking on a tiger.
A sequel to the original blockbuster has been in development in one form or another since a year after the film’s initial success. One script that floated around was set fifteen years later, centered on a young adult Lucius searching for the truth about his biological father. However things evolved from there to include Maximus’ resurrection and his journey through the afterlife.
Even stranger was when musician Nick Cave was commissioned to write a new draft which involved to “deities vs. deity vs. humanity” story. The outlandish premise involved Maximus in purgatory, who is resurrected as an immortal eternal warrior and sent to Earth to kill Jesus Christ. However Maximus is tricked into murdering his own son and cursed to keep fighting for all time. The treatment even included the gladiator fighting in the Crusades, WWII, and the Vietnam War.
Ridley Scott was nominated for Best Director for the first film but lost out to Steven Soderberg for Traffic. This could be Scott’s great redemption story and hopefully land a gold statuette next year.
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