In 2000, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator made perhaps the ultimate dad movie. The story of the Roman general-turned-slave Maximus Decimus Meridus, played by Russell Crowe, reduced grown men to tears with its portrayal of honor in the face of cowardice,

Now, director Ridley Scott is returning to ancient Rome with the long-awaited sequel, "Gladiator II" which hits theaters Friday. The film stars Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen, and Pedro Pascal in a story set in the same brutal Roman Empire —one that didn't leave Scott's mind in the years since its first release.

Watch Ridley Scott and 16 of his department heads discuss 'Gladiator II' in a video taken from their all-guild Q&A at Paramount.

“I’m not a disco guy,” Scott says. “I dance like a (expletive) plowman.”

With a budget reported to be somewhere around $250 million-$300 million, it will need all of that and more. While this may be his fourth film to cost over over $200 million (adjusting to current dollar value), “Gladiator II” appears to be the highest spend of Scott’s career.

It’s been nearly 25 years since legendary director Ridley Scott made sword-and-sandal epics popular again with his box office juggernaut Gladiator. That 2000 blockbuster boasted a muscular and commanding Russell Crowe as former Roman general Maximus,

Not all critics were entertained by “Gladiator II,” the hotly anticipated sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2000 historical epic. Scott’s star-studded second chapter, entering the theatrical arena Friday, picks up years after Russell Crowe’s Roman general Maximus was killed by Joaquin Phoenix’s emperor Commodus in the Oscar-winning predecessor.