Gladiator II (2024)

Where you come from shapes who you become. Ridley Scott's "Gladiator II," written by David Scarpa, picks up years after young Lucius watched the heroic Maximus die at the hands of his uncle, the Emperor Commodus. Sent away from Rome by his mother, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), for his own safety, Lucius has grown up far from the empire under another name. Now grown and living in Numidia with his wife, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is captured when Roman forces led by General Acacius (Pedro Pascal) conquer his home, and his wife is killed in the battle. Burning for revenge against Acacius, he's forced into the Colosseum under the eye of scheming power broker Macrinus (Denzel Washington), a former slave who owns a stable of gladiators and harbors ambitions of his own. With Rome in the grip of corrupt brother emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger), who rule with cruelty and excess, Lucius draws on his past to find the strength to fight for the empire's future. The spectacular arena battles feature a charging rhinoceros, vicious baboons and a mock naval battle in a flooded Colosseum swarming with sharks. Washington's sly, scene-stealing performance was widely praised, and the film earned more than $460 million worldwide.