The first trailer for Gladiator 2 launched this week, 25 years after the Russell Crowe original was shot.

Even though director Sir Ridley Scott returns for the sequel, the new film with a ballooning budget certainly has a lot to live up to.

Gladiator is considered one of the greatest films ever made having stormed the box office, won Best Picture and Best Actor Oscars among others and arguably had a perfect ending.

Now Gladiator II is here following a grown-up Lucius with the first trailer seeing him enter the Colosseum himself.

It may look epic with a great cast led by Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington, but some furious fans can’t stand it.

As it stands, the Paramount Pictures original YouTube trailer has 115,000 likes and over 200,000 thumbs down and counting.

One of the biggest criticisms is the rap song over the trailer, being slammed as an “awful music choice” instead of Hans Zimmer’s score.

Other top comments lambasted the teaser for showing too much of the story and one said: “The fact that movie with the perfect ending got a sequel is outrageous.”

Other fans of the original concurred: “Of all the movies that never needed a sequel, Gladiator never needed it the most.”

Despite the slamming, Gladiator II is already expected to get Oscar nominations in the new year.

Gladiator II hits UK cinemas on November 15 and US movie theatres on November 22, 2024.