Plot: Greek general Themistocles joins forces with Sparta in order to defeat an invading army of Persians, who are led by their God-king Xerxes. Given the massive success of the first movie, it should not be too surprising to see that there's a sequel. Sure, King Leonidas's soldiers (including the King himself) were all killed at the Battle of Thermopylae, but so what? The film made $456 million! What should surprise you is that it has taken this long for Warner Bros to finally make a follow-up. Now, the question is whether or not enough people actually care to see another sword-and-sandals epic concerning the Spartans, or if once was enough. The sequel promises more Xerxes, but looking at the trailer, it does not seem that they have found a worthy replacement for Gerard Butler. Sullivan Stapleton apparently leads the cast, he plays Themistocles, but can he put forth a career-making performance here? You barely see him in the trailer. Compare that to the 300 trailer where Gerard Butler was yelling "This is Sparta!" and was kicking people down bottomless pits (they're still falling down that hole as we speak). So we'll see if the recognition of the 300 franchise itself will be enough to get audiences packed in the seats. They at least picked a prime release date. By the beginning of March, there will hardly be any big blockbuster-type films in theaters. Robocop will have been out for three weeks then. Non-Stop with Liam Neeson would be its toughest competition at that point. I suspect the movie won't be anywhere near as successful as 300, but it should be able to do decent enough business. U.S. Release Date: March 7th
