Angelina Jolie will return as the fairy Maleficent in a sequel to Disney’s 2014 box-office smash, the studio has announced.
Maleficent 2 joins a slate of forthcoming Disney live-action sequels and remakes that draw on the studio’s animated back catalogue. Screenwriter Linda Woolverton, who worked on the first film, will return for the follow-up.
Maleficent grossed $758m at the global box office, but received middling reviews. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw described her performance as having a “vinegary touch of panto”. He added: “I’d forgotten what a fierce screen presence Jolie is. She is becoming the Sophia Loren of our age. Now I want to see her in a grownup film.”
The Oscar winner has appeared only intermittently on the big screen in recent years, and has suggested that she plans to move permanently into directing. Last year, Jolie directed herself, alongside husband Brad Pitt, in the poorly reviewed arthouse relationship drama By the Sea.
Disney released no further details about the Maleficent sequel in its announcement on Monday. The original film, directed by Robert Stromberg, fleshed out the tragic backstory of the character that was introduced in the studio’s 1959 animated musical Sleeping Beauty.
Disney also confirmed it has cast Emma Stone to play the Disney villain Cruella de Vil in an origins story about the hound-hating star of the 101 Dalmatians movies titled Cruella. The studio is also producing new versions of Tinker Bell (with Reese Witherspoon), Dumbo (with Tim Burton directing) and Mary Poppins (with Emily Blunt). A sequel to current hit The Jungle Book will also proceed with original director Jon Favreau set to return.
