It’s been 23 years since the original Wall Street, and Michael Douglas reprises his role as corporate raider Gordon Gekko, freshly released from prison and ready to ascend right back to the top from which he fell. The role of Gordon’s protégé, played by Charlie Sheen in the first film, is filled by current hot-property Shia LeBeouf, the kid who’s been popping up in every big-budget production from Transformers to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I’m not entirely sure why.

Here he plays Jacob Moore, a clean-air advocate and propriety trader for the crashing firm of Keller Zabel, headed by his mentor Lewis Zabel (Frank Langella). The reason Zabel’s headed down the tubes is because of a bogus rumor spread by hedge-fund manager Bretton James (Josh Brolin), who purportedly also had a hand in bringing Gekko down. James offers to buy the dying firm for a pittance, which leads Zabel to commit suicide and sets Jake out for revenge.

Jake’s also engaged to Winnie (Carey Mulligan), owner of a fledgling environmental blog and Gekko’s daughter, whose relationship with her father has been estranged ever since the suicide of her brother Rudy. At a signing for Gekko’s new book, Jake meets up with his soon-to-be father-in-law and two form a pact: Gekko will help Jake bring down James if Jake helps Gekko reconnect with his daughter. And all the while Jake struggles to get his pet project, a clean, fusion (I believe)-based energy company, off the ground.

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Things have been pretty quiet for the upcoming sequel to Wall Street since we caught a glimpse of some set photos with Shia LeBeouf and Frank Langella a few months ago. Since then, production has finished up and we finally have a trailer to enjoy.

The film follows almost real-time after the events of the original 1987 film. Gordon Gecko is getting out of prison, and wants back in the game, except everything is different now. Douglas joins in with newcomer LeBeouf, as well as some old friends including Charlie Sheen, Susan Sarandon, and Frank Langella.

Given where the economy and Wall Street is today, compared to 1987, you can expect this film to take an interesting turn and border on didactic. Oliver Stone is returning to helm the sequel, who’s best known for his topical films such as World Trade Center and  W, so expect to see some potshots taken at the financial climate.

Check out the first new trailer after the jump, and catch Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps in theaters on April 23rd.

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