It's been a minute since 2024 but we haven't stopped thinking about some of the fantastic content that the year provided us with. No matter what was going on around you, you could always rely on the entertainment landscape to offer up some very much-needed escapism and enjoyment. That's what it's there for, and it did its job very well last year.
With big budget releases like Deadpool and Wolverine and Wicked bringing people to the movies theaters, there was truly a wide range of cinema for everybody to enjoy. Honestly, those two examples right there just shows you the range, even when it comes to the very specific category of cinematic dynamic duos that don't get along at first and then become the best of friends.
Some of the year's big releases have already found their way to streaming while some of the others have not. But one of 2024's biggest releases has just made its presence felt on a major streaming service, where it will no doubt introduce itself to audiences as one of - if not the - very best movies of the stacked year.
Gladiator II is now available to stream on Paramount Plus
After much anticipation, Gladiator II has arrived on streaming. The acclaimed film can be watched on Paramount Plus after making its debut on Tuesday, January 21, and to say that fans are excited to watch it - or rewatch it - would be a major understatement.
Directed by Ridley Scott, the film is the long-awaited sequel to the director's beloved 2000 outing Gladiator, which starred Russell Crowe. Though the star does not reprise his role in the sequel, the 2024 film does star Paul Mescal as the son of his character, along with some more major star power with Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, and Denzel Washington.
Gladiator II was released in US movie theaters back on November 22 (and a week earlier in the UK), which meant that it arrived in movie theaters alongside Wicked. Both were highly-anticipated titles, which made Thanksgiving weekend at the box office a history-making one. Two tentpole releases in the one weekend can often impact each other's box office takings, but that didn't appear to be an issue here as fans likened the event to the Barbenheimer movement (when Barbie and Oppenheimer were released simultaneously in 2023 and fans went out to see both on the same day) - even going so far as to call this one the Glicked movement.
As expected, Gladiator II was an intense film that paid tribute to the original film while also carving out its own space in a very different cinematic landscape. It worked very well, with audiences flocking to see it both out of love for the 2000 film and the star-studded cast, which brought out a perhaps younger-than-expected fanbase for it. It was also well-received by critics, with Denzel Washington's performance earning critical acclaim - and earning the star himself a Golden Globe nomination.