Cruella 2 is officially a go. Friday afternoon, Emma Stone closed a deal to return as the iconic Disney villain in a sequel to this year’s wildly popular take of the 101 Dalmatians franchise. The news comes days after word began to spread the actor was mulling options for potentially bring suit against the Mouse because of the box office performance of the first Cruella. Despite those reports, Deadline suggests the ink is dry on the contract and they’re moving forward with Cruella 2. Stone’s agency confirmed the deal with the trade.
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“While the media landscape has been disrupted in a meaningful way for all distributors, their creative partners cannot be left on the sidelines to carry a disproportionate amount of the downside without the potential for upside,” Endeavor executive chairman Patrick Whitesell told the trade. “This agreement demonstrates that there can be an equitable path forward that protects artists and aligns studios’ interests with talent. We are proud to work alongside Emma and Disney, and appreciate the studio’s willingness to recognize her contributions as a creative partner. We are hopeful that this will open the door for more members of the creative community to participate in the success of new platforms.”
As of now, it’s unclear if Cruella 2 is being developed for a theatrical release or a potential Disney+ Original. News of a potential sequel first surfaced in June, though Stone wasn’t attached at the time.
“They sent the script over, and the script wasn’t what I felt that I could excel at,” Cruella helmer Craig Gillespie previously told Collider of the film’s script. “It was a little bit more straight with the narrative and the drama, and I really wanted to infuse this energy and this tone and this playfulness to it. That gave me some pause, as to whether I could actually even get it to that point. I wasn’t sure if I could really get it to a place that suited my sensibility. But then, we talked to Tony McNamara. I was working on a project with him, and Emma had just done The Favourite with him, and Disney was supportive, so he came in and did a rewrite. Once we got that rewrite, then I was like, ‘All right, now I’ve got a movie. Now I know what I can do with this.’”
Cruella will be available to stream for free on Disney+ beginning August 27th. If you haven’t signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.
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