'Maleficent 2' Starts Production

Disney's Maleficent 2 is finally happening, and it certainly doesn't lack star power.The original [...]

By Matthew Aguilar

Disney's Maleficent 2 is finally happening, and it certainly doesn't lack star power.

The original Maleficent was one of Disney's earliest live-action adaptation wins, and four years later it is finally going into production. Walt Disney Studios announced the project with an image of three chairs surrounded by a gorgeous forest. The three chairs include the names of Angelina Jolie (Maleficent), Elle Fanning (Aurora), and Michelle Pfeiffer (Queen Ingrith), which you can see below.

"#Maleficent2, starring Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, and Michelle Pfeiffer, is now in production."

Even until recently, Jolie's involvement int he sequel had been rather mysterious, though she had said in the past that she was interested in returning to the role. Now it seems it is really happening, and we couldn't be more excited.

The film will be directed by Joachim Ronning with a screenplay by Jez Butterworth and Micah Fitzerman-Blue, and fans have been waiting since the original film's 2014 debut to hear any concrete details about it. The first film is one of the initial live-action adaptations to kick off Disney's recent run, and it was a big success at the box office. Maleficent was produced on a budget of $180 million and easily made that back with a domestic box office of $241 million. It was even more of a beast internationally, bringing in $517 million overseas.

Combined the film managed to collect over $758 million worldwide, and Disney's claim on the genre has only grown since then. The project was followed by Cinderella and the live-action juggernaut Beauty and the Beast, which brought in over $504 million domestically and over $1.2 billion worldwide. Other projects in the live-action pipeline include The Lion King, Aladdin, Mulan, Christopher Robin, and more.

You can find the official description for the original Maleficent below.

"Maleficent explores the untold story of Disney's most iconic villain from the classic "Sleeping Beauty" and the elements of her betrayal that ultimately turn her pure heart to stone. Driven by revenge and a fierce desire to protect the moors over which she presides, Maleficent cruelly places an irrevocable curse upon the human king's newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Aurora is caught in the middle of the seething conflict between the forest kingdom she has grown to love and the human kingdom that holds her legacy. Maleficent realizes that Aurora may hold the key to peace in the land and is forced to take drastic actions that will change both worlds forever."

Maleficent 2 currently has no release date.

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