The first trailer for 300: Rise of an Empire, the follow-up film to the adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel 300 was released Wednesday.

The film, based on Miller's upcoming prequel graphic novel Xerxes, chronicles a new war with parts of the story taking place before, during and after the first film.

Rise of an Empire marks the first time Smart People director Noam Murro has led an action film which emulates the style of the first film. Zack Snyder, who directed 300, and Kurt Johnstad, writer of 300 and Act of Valor, adapted the film for the big screen.

"The idea of this movie was always that it takes place at about the same time of the first one," Murro said in an interview with MTV.

"It's as if you zoomed out and saw a bigger time frame and told a bigger story of what happened in 300. The first movie speaks to the detail of this sequel," he added.

The battles are also larger in scale than those in the first film and the film takes place on the ocean.

As the trailer shows, much of the action in 300: Rise of an Empire will take place on ships at sea, and the change of venue made digitally creating a believable environment more difficult.

Sullivan Stapleton stars as the Greek general Themistocles who attempts to unite all of Greece to an anticipated victory over the Persian forces led by the mortal-turned-god Xerxes, played by Rodrigo Santoro, and the villainous commander of the Persian navy, Artemesia, portrayed by Eva Green.

Santoro, who is reprising his role from the first film, is not seen as much as Green and Stapleton in the sequel.

"You'll feel Xerxes' presence, but it's really Themistocles and Artemisia's movie," Murro said.

Warner Bros is releasing 300: Rise of an Empire everywhere in 3D early next year on March 7, 2014.

View the official trailer for 300: Rise of an Empire below.