Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II will start its Asian box office campaign in Japan. The Tokyo International Film Festival revealed Friday that it will host the Asian premiere of the epic sequel on Nov. 5 — more than two weeks ahead of its North American release over the Thanksgiving weekend on Nov. 22. The screening is a coup for Japan’s leading film festival, which used to regularly host Hollywood premieres but suffered a dry spell over the past decade as the studio’s shifted their marketing efforts towards China’s once-booming box office.
Scott won’t be in Japan to walk the festival’s red carpet, but the Gladiator II cast will be out in force for the Tokyo premiere. Star Paul Mescal is planning his very first visit to Japan to attend the gala screening. He’ll be joined by co-stars Denzel Washington, Fred Hechinger and Connie Nielsen, along with Gladiator II producers Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher.
The Tokyo festival says it created the new category of “Centerpiece screening,” exclusively to host the Paramount Pictures action-adventure film.
“We hope that the film will attract a great turnout at the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival and become one of the most iconic films of the year,” the event’s organizers said in a statement.
The original Gladiator, which won five Oscars, earned $465.4 million worldwide, with Japan clocking in at $15.5 million as the film’s biggest market in Asia and seventh biggest globally.
Gladiator II, based on the characters created by David Franzoni with a screenplay by David Scarpa, features a new story set more than a decade after the events of the first film. Mescal plays a grown-up Lucius Verus II, nephew to emperor Commodus from the original film, played by Joaquin Phoenix. After being forced into slavery, Lucius returns to Rome to battle not as a ruler, but as a gladiator out for revenge and power. Washington plays Macrinus, a wealthy power broker and arms dealer.
Tokyo Film Festival’s artistic director Shozo Ichiyama explained the selection by saying, “Gladiator II showcases a stellar cast of actors who are riding a wave of success and an even more epic scale that surpasses the previous film. We are honored to screen Gladiator II as our Centerpiece, which is undoubtedly one of the most eagerly awaited films by audiences worldwide this year.”
