'Maleficent' Sequel in Development at Disney, Angelina Jolie May Return

This isn’t exactly a live-action remake, but it is what happens when a live-action remake has good business at the box office.

Deadline recently reported that Disney will move forward with a sequel to last year’s Maleficent, a hugely successful and (some would argue) controversial revisionist telling of the story of Sleeping Beauty (through the eyes of the supposed ‘villain’ of the tale).

Linda Woolverton will return to write the screenplay and Joe Roth will return to produce, but it’s not yet known if Robert Stromberg will return to the director’s chair.

Likewise, Angelina Jolie hasn’t been officially confirmed to reprise her role as the titular villainess, but Deadline does report that the studio will keep Jolie in the loop and that the sequel is written with the mindset that she will return.

Like Tomorrowland, Maleficent was on the pricey side ($180 million). But, whereas Tomorrowland crashed hard and burned hard, Maleficent stormed the box office with an intake of near $760 million worldwide. So it should be no surprise that a sequel to Maleficent takes top priority over a sequel to Tomorrowland.

While this is a sequel to a live-action remake, it nonetheless counts as the eleventh film added to Disney’s upcoming slate of live-action remakes (and sequels).

The list of live-action remakes (which includes two sequels now), in no particular order, goes: The Jungle Book, Pete’s Dragon, Beauty and the Beast, a sequel to Alice in Wonderland, Dumbo, Mulan, Winnie the Pooh, Pinocchio, Tink, Night on Bald Mountain, and Maleficent 2.