A storm is brewing, with the question on everyone’s lips being: enchanted emeralds or golden wreaths? The flying monkeys from Oz take on the Roman legions marching through the sand as it’s Wicked versus Gladiator II, the cinematic face-off that’s shaping up to be this year’s version of Barbenheimer.
The Gladiators Return
In the gold corner, weighing in with a sword and sandals is Gladiator II, the long-awaited sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2000 epic.
With Russell Crowe’s Maximus long gone (may he rest in Elysium), this new Gladiator focuses on Lucius, the young boy we saw as an impressionable child in the first film, now all grown up and played by Paul Mescal.
Joining him is a star-studded cast: Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington and Joseph Quinn as a villainous emperor who no doubt fancies himself as another Commodus.