Summary
- Maleficent films are Disney's most successful live-action reboots, collectively grossing $1.248 billion worldwide.
- Screenwriter Linda Woolverton confirmed for Maleficent 3, providing hope for progress on the sequel.
- Angelina Jolie set to reprise her role, but plot details are scarce; Disney aims to continue the successful franchise expansion.
Disney's live-action reboots of animated classics have divided fans, with some not enjoying them at all while others are happy to embrace something new. However, out of all the movies that Disney has given this treatment to, the Maleficent films have proven to be the most popular and widely accepted by fans and critics across the board.
The previous two movies have collectively grossed $1.248 billion at the worldwide box office, proving the success of these Sleeping Beauty spinoffs, which have chosen to focus on the villain. Maleficent's character has been fleshed out to a whole new level compared to the animation where she originated, and it has proven to be a hit. However, there have been very few details about Maleficent 3 since it was confirmed to be happening back in 2021, until recently.
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Considering how quiet things have been on this Disney live-action project, there have been some question marks over whether or not it was happening. However, a recent Deadline report about Linda Woolverton joining the Hundred Acre Wood's Winnie and Friends as the executive producer confirmed she's also going to be the Maleficent 3 screenwriter. This would make sense given she wrote the first movie and co-wrote the sequel alongside Noah Harpster and Micah Fitzerman-Blue, but hearing that news as official is something that will certainly give fans of the franchise hope that some progress is now going to take place for Maleficent 3 moving forward.
Angelina Jolie has already confirmed she will be reprising her role as the iconic Disney villain turned antihero, but there are no further details known about this plot at the moment. The stories so far have done a great job of leaning into the source material but also adapting it and taking the movie in a totally new direction. That's likely one of the reasons why the two Maleficent movies have performed well so far: they're providing fresh content to fans and going outside of the box with the character. Plus, Jolie's performances as Maleficent have been widely praised.
Considering that Disney is showing no signs of slowing down with its live-action movies, it would make sense to go back to its most successful reboot. Disney has already released a live-action Snow White this year, with Lilo & Stitch soon to follow, while there are plans for Tangled and Hercules live-action movies as well at some stage in the future. Adding Maleficent 3 into that mix would make sense as it continues the trajectory that Disney is heading in at the moment, which is to create a lot of live-action content.
Maleficent 3 could choose to maintain the story within the Sleeping Beauty world or expand it to a new location with fresh characters. After getting this far, it would make sense for Disney to broaden the horizons with this franchise. However, there is still a long way to go before Maleficent 3 gets off the ground, as even with this news, there has been a worrying lack of updates from Disney about the film.
Maleficent
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- May 30, 2014
- Runtime
- 1h 37m
- Director
- Robert Stromberg
- Writers
- John Lee Hancock, Linda Woolverton
Cast
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Sam Riley -
Sharlto Copley -
Elle Fanning -
Juno Temple
