Maleficent (film series)

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Disney's Maleficent
Original workMaleficent (2014)
OwnerThe Walt Disney Company
Based on
Print publications
Book(s)The Curse of Maleficent: The Tale of a Sleeping Beauty
Films and television
Film(s)
Games
Video game(s)Maleficent Free Fall

Maleficent is a Disney media franchise that began in 2014 with the theatrical release of Maleficent.

Premise

The film series takes inspiration from the 1959 animated classic, Sleeping Beauty, but from the perspective of the villainous Maleficent, where she's adapted as protector and the most powerful fairy of the Moors, who, in revenge for betrayal, casts a curse on the daughter of her ex-lover King Stefan and Aurora. Over the course of the film, she goes from a hero to villain, following Stefan's betrayal, and back to hero due to maternal feelings she develops towards Aurora.

Feature films

Film(s) Director(s) Producer(s) Screenwriter(s) Composer Editor(s) Cinematographer
Maleficent Robert Stromberg Joe Roth Linda Woolverton James Newton Howard Chris Lebenzon and Richard Pearson Dean Semler
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil Joachim Rønning Joe Roth, Angelina Jolie and Duncan Henderson Linda Woolverton, Noah Harpster and Micah Fitzerman-Blue Geoff Zanelli Laura Jennings and Craig Wood Henry Braham

Maleficent (2014)

Main article: Maleficent (film)

Maleficent is a live-action spin-off film based on 1959's animated film Sleeping Beauty, focused on the eponymous antagonist.[1] In 2003,[2] during Don Hahn's meeting with Disney's animation department, it was suggested to create an origin film about Maleficent from Disney's animated film Sleeping Beauty in the same vein as then just released Broadway musical Wicked.[3] The film was originally conceived as animated, but, according to Hahn, it was "too difficult", so it was decided to go for a live-action approach instead.[4] In 2005,[3] Hahn met with Tim Burton to pitch him several projects for Disney, including Maleficent, which Burton agreed to helm,[5] but did not start working on it until around the summer of 2009,[6] when he was finishing Alice in Wonderland (2010).[5] Around the same time, Hahn approached Linda Woolverton, with whom he had previously worked on Beauty and the Beast (1991) and The Lion King (1994), to write the script,[5] and in March 2010 she officially joined the project,[6] while the studio began negotiations with Angelina Jolie to star as Maleficent.[7] Burton personally supervised the development of the film for six months to a year,[3][5] until in May 2011 it was announced that he had left the project due to his commitments to Frankenweenie (2012) and Dark Shadows (2012).[8][9] Following Burton's departure, the studio considered David Yates,[8] Darren Aronofsky,[10] and David O. Russell to take over as director.[11] Guillermo del Toro also expressed a desire to direct the film, citing Sleeping Beauty (1959) as one of his three favorite Disney films.[12] In September 2011, Joe Roth joined the project as a producer,[13] and in January 2012 it was announced that Robert Stromberg, the production designer of Avatar (2009), Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), would helm the project in his directional debut.[14] A month later, during the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, Jolie officially confirmed her involvement in the project.[15]

Linda Woolverton's screenplay went through at least 15 versions as the film progressed in production.[16] Stromberg said: "I met many times with Linda Woolverton, the writer. We did lots of roundtable discussions and sort of cut out the fat as much as we could and sort of purified the storyline as much as we could".[17] Paul Dini also performed rewrites on the project with Stromberg,[18] and was credited in early press.[19][20] In some earlier versions of the story, Stefan was the half-human, half-fairy bastard son of King Henry. The version of the screenplay that went into shooting originally included two characters called Queen Ulla and King Kinloch, the fairy queen and fairy king of the Moors and the aunt and uncle of Maleficent.[21] Miranda Richardson and Peter Capaldi were cast and shot the Queen Ulla and King Kinloch scenes, but their roles were cut in the editing process together with more than 15 minutes of the first act of the film. Stromberg said, "We spent a bit more time originally in the fairy world before we got into the human side of things ... we wanted to get it [the film] under two hours. So we cut about 15 minutes out of the first act, and then that had to be seamed together with some pretty basic reshoots."[22]

Stromberg later claimed in an interview that he employed an "age-old" emotional storytelling for the film and called it "the biggest thrill" against all technology advances.[23] "And the way we play with that is we have somebody who's perhaps in love but betrayed and doesn't believe that true love exists. So the moral to it is we can all feel dark ourselves but not to lose hope because there is light in places where we might not be expecting", he explained.[23] Principal photography began on June 13, 2012, at Pinewood Studios.[24][25] Some filming took place in the Buckinghamshire countryside near Turville.[26]

The film was originally slated for a March 14, 2014 release,[27] before it was changed to July 2, 2014.[28] On September 18, 2013, the film's release date was preponed to May 30, 2014, as Pixar's The Good Dinosaur faced production issues and delayed to 2015.[29] In the United Kingdom, the film was released on May 28, 2014.[30]

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019)

Main article: Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is the sequel of the 2014 film Maleficent, continuing the story of the first film.[31] The film was released on October 18, 2019.[32] On June 3, 2014, following the release of the first film, Angelina Jolie hinted that a sequel to Maleficent was a possibility.[33] On June 15, 2015, Walt Disney Pictures announced that the sequel was in the works and that Linda Woolverton would return to write the screenplay for the film.[34] Although Jolie's return to the sequel was not yet certain, the script was intended to be written with her in mind.[34] In addition, Joe Roth was reported to return as producer of the film.[34] On April 25, 2016, Disney officially confirmed Jolie's return as the title character.[35] On August 29, 2017, it was reported that Jez Butterworth would rewrite Woolverton's script while Roth was confirmed as returning as producer.[36] In September 2017, Jolie stated that they "have been working on the script and this is going to be a really strong sequel."[37] On October 3, 2017, Deadline reported that the film would be directed by Joachim Rønning and it would start filming in the first quarter of 2018.[38]

In April 2018, Ed Skrein was cast in the film to play a dark fae, with Elle Fanning returning to play Princess Aurora from the previous film.[39] Michelle Pfeiffer was also added as a character described as a queen,[40] later clarified to be an evil queen[41] named Queen Ingrith.[42]

In May 2018, it was announced that

Judith Shekoni joined the cast.[47]

The movie was theatrically released on October 18, 2019 by

4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD release on January 14, 2020.[50] Maleficent: Mistress of Evil was released on Disney+ on May 15, 2020.[51]

Future film in development

A third film is in early development.[52][53] In December 2023, Angelina Jolie stated that she is returning to the title role.[54]

Video game

Maleficent Free Fall

A video game based on the film, titled Maleficent Free Fall and made by Disney Electronic Content, Inc., was released on May 15, 2014.

Cast and characters

List indicator(s)

This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in the series.

  • An empty, dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's official presence has not yet been confirmed.
  •  MC indicates a motion-capture-only role.
  •  O indicates an older version of the character.
  •  V indicates a voice-only role.
  •  Y indicates a younger version of the character.
Characters Films
Maleficent Maleficent
Mistress of Evil 		Untitled third Maleficent film
2014 2019 TBA
Maleficent Angelina Jolie
Ella PurnellT
Isobelle MolloyY 		Angelina Jolie
Aurora Elle Fanning
Janet McTeerOV
Eleanor Worthington CoxY
Vivienne Jolie-PittY 		Elle Fanning TBA
Diaval Sam Riley
Knotgrass Imelda Staunton
Flittle Lesley Manville
Thistlewit Juno Temple
Prince Phillip Brenton Thwaites Harris Dickinson
King Stefan Sharlto Copley
Jackson BewsT
Michael HigginsY 		Mentioned
King Henry Kenneth Cranham
Queen Leila Hannah New
King John Robert Lindsay
Queen Ingrith Michelle Pfeiffer
Conall Chiwetel Ejiofor
Borra Ed Skrein
Lickspittle Warwick Davis
Gerda Jenn Murray
Percival David Gyasi

Reception

Critical and public response

Each film is linked to the "Critical response" section of its article.
Critical and public response of Maleficent
Title Critical Public
Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic CinemaScore
Maleficent 54% (273 reviews)[55] 56 (44 reviews)[56] A[57]
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil 39% (256 reviews)[58] 43 (40 reviews)[59] A[57]

See also

References

  1. The Walt Disney Studios. Archived from the original
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  2. ^ "Disney producer inspired by studio legend in making of 'Maleficent'". News4JAX. March 30, 2016. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Desowitz, Bill (November 4, 2014). "Immersed in Movies: Don Hahn Talks the Link Between 'Maleficent' and 'Sleeping Beauty'". IndieWire. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  4. ^ Brew, Simon (May 23, 2014). "Don Hahn interview: Maleficent, Disney, animation and more". Den of Geek. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d Galindo, Brian, Zamora Christian (October 17, 2019). ""Maleficent" Took Over 10 Years To Hit The Big Screen And Here's The Story Behind It". BuzzFeed. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Disney, 'Alice' scribe team for film about 'Sleeping Beauty's' evil queen (exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. March 24, 2010. Archived from the original on July 26, 2010. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  7. ^ Brooks, Xan (March 29, 2010). "Tim Burton's Sleeping Beauty: Angelina Jolie poised to play Maleficent". The Guardian. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
  8. ^ a b Kit, Borys (May 6, 2011). "Tim Burton Won't Direct Disney's 'Maleficent' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 18, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
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  10. ^ Schaefer, Sandy (May 21, 2011). "Darren Aronofsky Being Sought To Helm 'Maleficent' and 'Moses'". Screen Rant. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  11. ^ McClintock, Pamela, Kit, Borys (June 14, 2011). "David O. Russell Circling Disney's 'Maleficent'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 19, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Fischer, Russ (June 20, 2011). "Guillermo Del Toro Would Direct 'Maleficent' If Disney Asked And Time Allowed". /Film. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  13. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (September 26, 2011). "Joe Roth Taking Producer Role In Angelina Jolie-Starrer 'Maleficent' For Disney". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
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  21. ^ Kit, Borys (May 7, 2012). "Imelda Staunton, Miranda Richardson Joining Angelina Jolie in 'Maleficent' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
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  32. ^ "Disney Movie Release Dates: Poppins Moves Up, Jungle Cruise Delayed". ComingSoon.net. 2018-07-10. Archived from the original on 2019-04-06. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
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  36. ^ Sneider, Jeff (August 29, 2017). ""Maleficent 2" Moves Forward as Disney Taps "Spectre" Scribe Jez Butterworth to Rewrite Sequel (Exclusive)". The Tracking Board. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
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