Source: AFP
Paramount Pictures unveiled chilling footage from “Gladiator 2” to movie theater bosses at Caesars Palace casino in Las Vegas on Thursday, prompting cheers even as the studio and the big-screen industry face uncertain times.
In an extended trailer, the sequel’s star Paul Mescal battles in a Coliseum full of rhinos, bloodthirsty baboons and even floating Roman warships, driven by Denzel Washington’s shadowy advisor.
“It’s probably more amazing than the first one,” said director Ridley Scott, via video.
The video was enthusiastically received at CinemaCon, an annual gathering where Hollywood studios present their upcoming titles to theater owners and managers from around the world.
Paramount — one of Hollywood’s oldest studios — faces a turbulent future, with its parent company having begun exclusive merger talks earlier this month with Skydance, a media company founded by the billionaire Ellison family.
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Meanwhile, total global box office receipts are expected to decline in 2024, largely due to last year’s actor and writer strikes, which shut down and delayed film productions.
Paramount executives nonetheless gave a bullish presentation Thursday, which also included titles such as “A Quiet Place: Day One,” “Smile 2” and “IF” — a new comedy from John Krasinski and starring Ryan Reynolds.
Stars including Chris Hemsworth and Lupita Nyong’o took to the stage for the launch.
Paramount film chief Brian Robbins even joked about the merger talks, saying one of his executives had launched a crowd-funded Kickstarter campaign to buy the studio.
But all eyes were on Scott’s sequel to the 2000 Oscar-winning historical epic Gladiator.
Promotional marble statues for “Gladiator 2” had graced the casino floors of Caesars Palace, the ancient Rome-themed hotel where CinemaCon is being held.
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More than two decades later, Scott returns to direct the sequel.
As the main characters of the previous film, played by Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix, are killed off, a new group of actors intervenes.
Mescal plays gladiator Lucius, the nephew of the evil Phoenix Emperor, who was briefly seen as a child in the original film.
Pedro Pascal plays a military general, while the mysterious Washington character is seen in the extended video plotting to overthrow the Roman Empire.
“Rome must fall. All I need is to give it a push,” he says, in one scene.
“Gladiator 2” hits theaters in November.
Source: AFP