Disney is planning a sequel to last year’s ultra successful retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story, Maleficent, according to Deadline. The original movie retold the story from the perspective of the evil witch (Angelina Jolie, Salt).
Disney has already tapped the writer of the first movie, Linda Woolverton (Alice in Wonderland), to pen the sequel. Disney will also reportedly focus the majority of their attention on getting Jolie back to reprise her role. She was only under contract for the original film, so they will likely have to increase her salary for the sequel. There’s no telling if this will affect their ability to bring back Elle Fanning (Super 8), who played Princess Aurora.
This would be the second sequel of Disney’s live-action versions of its famous fairytales. The studio has a sequel to Alice in Wonderland in the form of Alice Through the Looking Glass, due out in 2016. That sequel has retained the majority of the original cast – which contains more high-profile names than there were in Maleficent – so one wouldn’t think there would be any trouble for Disney to bring back Maleficent‘s main players, at least when it comes to their budget.
The project itself isn’t a surprise, as the original grossed $760 million worldwide and was well-received by audiences and critics alike. We’ll have more on the sequel as it develops.