Disney is Planning a Maleficent Sequel!

With the original film having brought in more than $758 million worldwide, Walt Disney Pictures is developing a Maleficent sequel! Deadline has the news, reporting that the studio has hired Linda Woolverton, who scripted the first film, to work on the followup, which is also being planned to once again star Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie in the title role. Jolie’s involvement as an actor is not a guarantee, however, at this stage.

Maleficent, released in 2014, was directed by Robert Stromberg and tells the previously-untold story of the iconic villain from Disney’s 1959 animated classic, Sleeping Beauty. A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land’s fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal?an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading king’s successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom?and perhaps to Maleficent’s true happiness as well.

The original action adventure also stars Sharlto Copley, Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple and Lesley Manville.

A Malficent sequel won’t be the only live-action fairy tale sequel on the way from the studio. Next summer will see the release of Alice Through the Looking Glass, continuing the adventures of Mia Wasikowska’s Alice in Wonderland character.