Gladiator 2 Is Officially Happening

It's hard to believe but it's been 23 years since the original Gladiator hit the big screen. Now Sir Ridley Scott has announced a sequel to the five time OSCAR winning film. And he has confirmed he will return as the movie's director.

Gladiator 2 will follow the story of Lucius, who is now a grown man. If you remember from the first Gladiator movie, Lucius was the son of Lucilla, played by Connie Nielsen. He was also the nephew of the tyrant Commodus, played by Joaquin Phoenix. At the end of the first film, Lucius was still a little boy. He had just witnessed the death of Maximus and Commodus. And it was clear the death made a big impact on the young boy.

Now, several years later, will Lucius be in a position of power in Rome? And if so, will what he saw that day affect how he uses that power? Hard to say. The plot has not been revealed by anyone involved in the sequel.

What we do know is that Russell Crowe's character will not be resurrected for this film. Thought that would have been my vote! A prequel...flashbacks about Maximus...anything to bring Crowe back into that character!

The man rumored to be playing Lucius is Aftersun actor Paul Mescal. The Oscar nominated actor hasn't been confirmed yet, but is said to be most likely taking the role for the upcoming film, deadline.com reported. He was the first actor to sit down with Scott to read the script. Though other talent was considered, it was clear to onlookers that Mescal was Scott's top pick, according to Deadline.

The original film’s costume designer, Janty Yates, and production designer, Arthur Max, will also be working on the sequel. It is due out in theaters November 22, 2024.

– Wendy Rush

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Disney and Pixar have dropped a bombshell for any and all Disney movie lovers. They’re working on four new sequels to their famous movies. Yep. Four.

Of course the announcement of Inside Out 2 came months ago. Amy Poehler, who voices the lead character Joy, made the announcement at the D23 Expo in September.

She said, "Pixar is making Inside Out 2! Yes, Joy and the emotions are back for an all-new adventure inside Riley's head" People Magazine reported. Poehler made the announcement in the company of Inside Out director Pete Docter. The release date for this sequel is June 14, 2024 in theaters.

More recently came the announcement of three more sequels in the Disney and Pixar franchises. Disney CEO Bob Iger made the announcement on the Q1 earnings call on Wednesday, Deadline reported.

“Today I’m so pleased to announce that we have sequels in the works from our animation studios to some of our most popular franchises, Toy Story, Frozen and Zootopia. We’ll have more to share about these productions soon, but this is a great example of how we’re leaning into our unrivaled brands and franchises” (deadline.com).

This will be the third installment in the Frozen franchise, the fifth for Toy Story, and second for Zootopia. And all three have successful predecessors to lean on. Frozen 2 was nominated for Best Original Song at the 2020 Oscars for “Into the Unknown”. And the original Frozen won two Oscars in 2014, including Best Song for "Let It Go".

Zootopia won an Oscar in 2017 for Best Animated Feature. And Toy Story 4 was nominated for two Oscars in 2020. Including Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for "I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away".

Release dates have not yet been announced for Toy Story 5, Zootopia 2 or Frozen 3. But it could be a few years, if history is any indicator. It usually takes at least that long for Disney and Pixar to get a new animated movie from concept to theater screen.

However, according to Yahoo! Entertainment, Pixar does have three movies slated to release in the next three years. And they haven't revealed which movies they are. Maybe one or all of them are sequels. All of the release dates are in the spring/summer.

Here's what we do know about who is returning to star in the upcoming sequels. - Wendy Rush

Kristen Bell actually made this announcement, unofficially, several months back on the Tonight Show. Fast forward to about 6:45 to see it.

In the same interview with Jimmy Fallon, Kristen Bell said Idina Menzel did want to do another Frozen movie. We say she'll "probably" return only because Menzel hasn't confirmed it herself.

https://twitter.com/joshgad/status/1623454558998659073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1623454558998659073%7Ctwgr%5Ef51ea61f7be5c9a071b1fb775fa1b7d8ae7a4355%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.avclub.com%2Fembed%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-1623454558998659073autosize%3D1

Gad posted on his Twitter account that he's excited to return in Frozen 3.

Tim Allen turned to his Twitter page to confirm he's excited to work on Toy Story 5.

We do know, thanks to Tim Allen's tweet, that Woody will return for Toy Story 5. But Tom Hanks has yet to confirm he will voice the returning character.

People reported that three of the four lead voices will return for Inside Out 2. Amy Poehler will reprise her roll as Joy. Phyllis Smith will return as Sadness. And Lewis Black is set to come back as Anger.

Poehler also confirmed the plot of Inside Out 2 will revolve around being inside the mind of Riley as a teenager. Yikes!

Obviously things happen over the years, but back when the first Zootopia was done, both Goodwin and Bateman talked to CinemaBlend about what they would like to see happen with the plot of a sequel. That could mean they're both on board to reprise their roles as the leads.