Gladiator 2 swept into the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, where theater owners were given the first look at footage from Ridley Scott‘s epic.
Scott sent in a video from London to introduce the piece. “It is possibly even more extraordinary than the first,” said Scott of the upcoming film, a sequel to 2000’s Gladiator. Star Paul Mescal called working on it a “standout moment” in his life to date. Denzel Washington said the film will have “emotion” and “spectacle ” beyond anything else in theaters this year.
In the footage, Mescal is revealed to be a gladiator (apparently, he is not playing the nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s Emperor Commodus, as had been reported). His character is seen fighting murderous monkeys, as well as a soldier on a rhinoceros. At one point, the Colosseum is filled with water for an epic ship battle.
It seems that Mescal’s character is inspired by Crowe’s Maximus. “I remember that day. I never forgot it. That a slave could take revenge against an emperor. That a slave could get justice in the arena,” he says at one point in the trailer, referencing the climax of the first film.
The project dives into anti-war politics, with Pedro Pascal playing a military figure who no longer wants to throw away Rome’s young men on war. As a result, he too is then condemned to fight as a gladiator. Washington, meanwhile, seems to be guiding Mescal to inspire revolution.
“The only truth in Rome is the law of the strongest,” says Washington’s character.
Going into CinemaCon, Gladiator 2 was among the most anticipated movies, given its pedigree as the sequel to Scott’s 2000 best picture winner, and given reports of a large budget that would suggest plenty of spectacle onscreen for the Nov. 22 release.
Gladiator 2 is a risky proposition for Paramount and for Scott, who takes big swings with his movies that sometimes generate hits and classic films, and sometimes don’t. His 2023 Apple epic Napoleon grossed $221 million globally, which would be a concerning number for a legacy studio, though the tech giant was not counting on it as a theatrical play. For its part, Paramount is high on Scott and has enlisted him to direct an upcoming Bee Gees biopic.