Gladiator 2 to Make Asian Premiere at Tokyo Film Festival

Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II will begin its Asian field workplace marketing campaign in Japan. The Tokyo Worldwide Movie Competition revealed Friday that it’s going to host the Asian premiere of the epic sequel on Nov. 5 — greater than two weeks forward of its North American launch over the Thanksgiving weekend on Nov. 22. The screening is a coup for Japan’s main movie competition, which used to repeatedly host Hollywood premieres however suffered a dry spell over the previous decade because the studio’s shifted their advertising efforts in direction of China’s once-booming field workplace.

Scott received’t be in Japan to stroll the competition’s pink carpet, however the Gladiator II solid will likely be out in power for the Tokyo premiere. Star Paul Mescal is planning his very first go to to Japan to attend the gala screening. He’ll be joined by co-stars Denzel Washington, Fred Hechinger and Connie Nielsen, together with Gladiator II producers Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher.

The Tokyo competition says it created the brand new class of “Centerpiece screening,” solely to host the Paramount Footage action-adventure movie. 

“We hope that the movie will entice an ideal turnout on the thirty seventh Tokyo Worldwide Movie Competition and change into some of the iconic movies of the 12 months,” the occasion’s organizers mentioned in a press release. 

The unique Gladiator, which received 5 Oscars, earned $465.4 million worldwide, with Japan clocking in at $15.5 million because the movie’s greatest market in Asia and seventh greatest globally. 

Gladiator II, primarily based on the characters created by David Franzoni with a screenplay by David Scarpa, incorporates a new story set greater than a decade after the occasions of the primary movie. Mescal performs a grown-up Lucius Verus II, nephew to emperor Commodus from the unique movie, performed by Joaquin Phoenix. After being pressured into slavery, Lucius returns to Rome to battle not as a ruler, however as a gladiator out for revenge and energy. Washington performs Macrinus, a rich energy dealer and arms vendor. 

Tokyo Movie Competition’s inventive director Shozo Ichiyama defined the choice by saying, “Gladiator II showcases a stellar solid of actors who’re driving a wave of success and an much more epic scale that surpasses the earlier movie. We’re honored to display screen Gladiator II as our Centerpiece, which is undoubtedly some of the eagerly awaited movies by audiences worldwide this 12 months.”