Thursday, June 4, 2026

Paramount’s Oscars Surprise: Trailer for “Gladiator II” Comes on Heels of Studio Sale Announced Yesterday

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This has been a busy two days for Paramount Pictures.

The company was sold yesterday to David Ellison’s Skydance company and partners for $28 billion. The deal will close next year.

That should be around the time director Ridley Scott releases his “Gladiator II.” From the looks of the just released trailer, Ellison will be at all the awards shows and definitely the Oscars.

Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, and Pedro Pascal star in the sequel to the film that gave Scott a Best Picture. But he doesn’t have a Best Director prize after decades of filmmaking. (He lost in 1992 to Steven Soderbergh for “Traffic.”) Will this be it? Looks pretty good.

“Gladiator II” will be released on November 22nd.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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