Robert Stromberg's Maleficent was a massive hit when it hit theaters back in the summer of 2014, ultimately making over $750 million at the global box office - but it took a minute for a sequel to get the green light. While Disney continued to mine their expansive animated library for new live-action material, the idea of a sequel to the villain-centric fairy tale stayed on the back burner. Five years later, however, the studio is now finally getting ready to unleash Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil on the world, and today we got our very first look at the new blockbuster. Check it out!
The first Maleficent surprised a lot of people in the way in which it added new context to the primary antagonist of 1959's Sleeping Beauty, giving audiences an interesting opportunity to see the villainess in a new light. Taking that into consideration, it will be interesting to see what the sequel winds up doing with her, as this debut trailer for Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil definitely suggests that the film will be developing the character's sinister side quite a bit.
Directed by Joachim Rønning, who previously worked with Disney co-directing 2017's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the Maleficent sequel picks up years after the events of its predecessor, and continues to explore the complicated maternal relationship between Angelina Jolie's titular character and the princess Aurora (Elle Fanning), whom the eponymous fairy memorably cursed on the day of her birth. The new movie features a number of actors who were featured in the original, including Imelda Staunton as Knotgrass, Juno Temple as Thistlewit, Lesley Manville as Flittle, and Sam Riley as Diaval, but there are also a number of new faces joining the franchise, including Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Skrein, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Harris Dickinson - who replaces Brenton Thwaites in the role of Prince Phillip.
Though production on Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil wrapped up last August, we initially thought that we were going to have to still wait quite a while for the release of this movie... but that all changed back in March in a significant way. While Disney had initially featured the film on their release schedule for May of 2020, apparently some significant moves were made behind the scenes that allowed them to push it up nearly a full year on the calendar. Now the blockbuster sequel is scheduled to arrive in a theater near you this October - meaning that it will be one of four different live-action adaptations of classic Walt Disney Animation features released in 2019 (the other three being Dumbo, The Lion King, and Aladdin). It will have some pretty stiff competition at the box office, with other releases that month including Joker, Zombieland: Double Tap, Gemini Man, and the animated Addams Family, but the studio clearly doesn't want to make fans of the original wait any longer than they have to for the anticipated sequel.
Are you excited for Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil? Hit the comments section below with all your thoughts, feelings, and opinions about the brand new teaser trailer, and be sure to check out our 2019 release calendar for a glimpse at everything that's coming out between now and the end of December.
