While Disney's live-action fairy tale franchise has been doing gangbuster business lately, back in 2014 nobody was quite sure how a reinvention of Sleeping Beauty that focused on the villain would work. It worked out pretty well for all involved. There has been a plan to make a sequel pretty much ever since the first film struck box office gold, but there hasn't been much talk about since then, as the focus has seemed to be on "new" projects like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. Now, however, it looks like Maleficent 2 may be closer to becoming a reality as Angelina Jolie is considering it as her next acting project.
Angelina Jolie has been spending a great deal of her time behind the camera as a director of late, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, the actress is eying a few potential new projects that will put her back in front of the camera again. She's reportedly looking at three different films for her next acting gig, two of them are book adaptations for Universal. The first is a World War II espionage drama entitle The Spy Who Loved, based on a novel of the same name.The other is called The Imperial Love Affair, a story about the relationship between Catherine the Great and Russian military leader Grigory Potemkin. The third option is to reprise her role as one of Disney's most popular villains.
Angelina Jolie has only made two films as an actress since the last time she played Maleficient, By the Sea in 2015 and her voice role in Kung Fu Panda 3 last year. It's a significant reduction from only a few years before that when Jolie was the most in demand, and highest paid, actress in Hollywood.
Maleficient 2 would seem like the obvious choice to make if Angelina Jolie is looking to make her return to the screen a big splash. While Maleficent was the movie that launched Disney's live-action fairy tale franchise in many ways, subsequent films have only become bigger hits. A follow-up would have the benefit of following in the footsteps not only of its own predecessor but also big hits like The Jungle Book and, we expect, Beauty and the Beast.
Having said that, the other two potential films sound more like the sorts of movies that Angelina Jolie has been making more recently and thus might be more to her liking. Her 2014 directorial effort, Unbroken , was another World War II drama and her most recent film, First They Killed My Father deals with the human rights abuses under Pol Pot in Cambodia. Jolie seems to be attracted to more serious films than the fantasy type these days, so it's possible that she'll gravitate toward one of those options.
Which film would you rather see Angelina Jolie make next? Let us know what you think in the comments.
