By Jeremy Fuster

While “Wicked” looks to earn one of the best opening weekends of the year, Paramount is hoping to entertain the masses in its own way with “Gladiator II,” Ridley Scott’s legacyquel to his 2000 Best Picture winner. It marks the return of a type of film once thought to be extinct: the sword-and-sandal epic.

The original “Gladiator” starred Russell Crowe as a Roman general reduced to life as a gladiator as he seeks to avenge his wife and child who were slain at the hands of a corrupt emperor. It was part of a history of ancient civilization films that peaked in the 50s with films like “The Ten Commandments” and “Ben-Hur” but persisted into the 2000s with films like “Alexander,” “Troy,” and “300” before ceding the cultural spotlight to comic books and sci-fi franchises.