Disney brought the legendary fairy tale Sleeping Beauty to life back in 1959, crafting an animated film that will live forever in cinema history. In just a few months from now, however, they will aim to do the same thing again with a live-action version of the same story. Robert Stromberg's Maleficent will be hitting theaters this May, and following up on the debut spot that premiered last November we now have a new official trailer, hosted over on YouTube.
Based on a script by Paul Dini (Batman: The Animated Series) and Linda Woolverton (The Lion King) with rewrites done by Saving Mr. Banks helmer John Lee Hancock, Maleficent is a retelling of the classic Brothers Grimm story from a new perspective. Set in an ancient kingdom, the story follows the eponymous witch, played by Angelina Jolie, as she makes her decent into villainy and curses the beautiful Princess Aurora (Elle Fanning) to eternal slumber. Filling out important roles in the supporting cast are Sharlto Copley, Juno Temple, Imelda Staunton, Sam Riley, and Brenton Thwaites as Prince Phillip, the young royal who winds up being Aurora's true love and the one to lift the curse with one kiss.
In addition to delivering some brand new footage that we've never seen before, this trailer definitely gives us a better sense of the movie's bigger story than the previous preview, which was really more of a teaser than anything. You can rewatch that spot in the embed below:
There has been some debate whether or not Disney actually needs to be making live-action versions of some of their most famous animated films, but one thing that I really like about this trailer is that its not ignoring history. Finding the parallels between the 1959 classic and this new movie might actually be pretty cool, especially if there are more than a few scenes that match up like they do in the trailer.
Maleficent will be in theaters in a few months, but it looks like it won't be the only upcoming live-action film to center on a classic Disney villain. The studio is currently planning a new film called Cruella, which will tell the untold story of the dog-hating villain at the center of 101 Dalmatians. The progression of that movie will likely strongly depend on how well Maleficent does, so if you want to keep seeing movies like this be sure to vote with your dollar on May 30th.
