Sometimes, it’s really quiet in the world of movie and show trailers. But this was not one of those weeks. Instead, we got our first look at Gladiator 2, the long-awaited sequel to the Oscar-winning Gladiator from 2000.
From there, the rest of the week gave us some awesome TV trailers, and one direct-to-video animated film that really impressed us. Below, you can catch all five of the best movie and show trailers for the week of July 12.
Gladiator 2
History repeats itself in Gladiator 2, as seen in the first trailer for the film. Paul Mescal is taking over the role of Lucius Verus, but his on-screen mother, Lucilla, will still be portrayed by Connie Nielsen from the first Gladiator. In the time between the original flick and the sequel, Lucius abandoned Rome and started his own family in North Africa. However, a Roman general, Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal), has conquered Lucius’ new home and forced him into slavery.
Much like Maximus before him, Lucius will have to climb the ranks of the gladiators in order to get his revenge. One of the gladiator owners, Macrinus, is played by Denzel Washington. But don’t expect much mercy from Macrinus. He’s just another obstacle for Lucius to overcome.
Severance
Get ready to throw your work/life balance out of whack again. The second season of Apple TV+’s Severance has a January 17, 2025 premiere date.
That’s a little too far to be dropping a full trailer now, but we did get a very short and effective teaser this week. It briefly recaps the premise of the show before ending on an ominous note.
Agatha All Along
Marvel seemingly teased a serious True Detective-like turn in the opening part of Agatha All Along‘s first trailer. Kathryn Hahn actually seems to fit in better with that world than she does in the wackier side of the MCU. But soon enough, a witchy Aubrey Plaza helps Hahn’s Agatha Harkness free herself from the spell placed by Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) at the end of WandaVision.
With Wanda presumed dead after the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Agatha is ready to reclaim her power alongside a new coven of witches. One thing you can count on from this show is that there will be some more songs by the team behind the Agatha All Along viral hit of 2021.
Watchmen
The quality of Warner Bros. Animation’s DC films has dramatically declined as the studio embraced a cheap-looking Archer style. Thankfully, the new animated adaptation of Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen looks a lot better than anything we’ve seen from the DC movies in a long time. This is the medium that best suits the story of a world that was greatly changed by the presence of superheroes … and not for the better.
Now, one of the so-called heroes is dead, and the vigilante known as Rorschach believes someone is targeting them. What Rorschach doesn’t realize is that there’s a much bigger conspiracy in play on a scale that few could imagine. The world is about to change again, but who will be alive to see it?
Watchmen will be released as a two-part film, with Chapter 1 arriving on digital on August 13 and on Blu-ray on August 27. Watchmen: Chapter 2 will be released in 2025.
The Umbrella Academy
What do you do after you’ve saved the world? On The Umbrella Academy, it just means that you have to do it again. It would take far too long to explain the complex time travel shenanigans that brought us to this point.
The short version is that the superpowered adoptive siblings of the Hargreeves family have really screwed things up and now find themselves living in yet another alternate timeline. Since this is the final season, the Hargreeves are only getting one last shot to make things right.
