Maleficent 2 makes magical leap from May 2020 to October of this year

March 6th 2019, 10:11am

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Just when you thought Disney didn’t have enough movies coming out this year – from Friday’s CAPTAIN MARVEL to April’s AVENGERS: ENDGAME and December’s STAR WARS: EPISODE IX – they have gone and moved yet another movie into a 2019 slot. Angelina Jolie was set to reprise her role of the title, horned character in Disney’s sequel to the 2014 hit MALEFICENT in May 2020, but now news has broken the studio has bumped the new movie up seven months to October 18 of this year, clearly in an attempt to earn all the money printed this year.

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That’s a major leap for a major studio movie, and while in the May 2020 slot it was sandwiched between the releases of FAST & FURIOUS 9 and WONDER WOMAN 1984, the sequel titled MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL is now the only blockbuster in the month of October aside from perhaps ZOMBIELAND 2: DOUBLE TAP, which isn't quite the same market. Along with the announcement of the release shift, Disney dropped a teaser poster for the movie, with Jolie looking both dazzling and suitably evil.

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Coming out before Disney started cranking out live-action remakes of their animated hits, this take on the movie SLEEPING BEAUTY from the perspective of the villain was a box office smash, earning $241 million domestically and over $750 million globally. The first movie was directed by Robert Stromberg, but this time around Disney handed the reins to PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 5 co-director, Joachim Ronning. Elle Fanning with reprise her role as the cursed princess Aurora, starring along with Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Skrein, Sam Riley, Harris Dickinson, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, Lesley Manville, Chiwetel Ejiofor and more.

Here's a synopsis for the movie:

A fantasy adventure that picks up several years after “Maleficent,” in which audiences learned of the events that hardened the heart of Disney’s most notorious villain and drove her to curse a baby Princess Aurora, “Maleficent II” continues to explore the complex relationship between the horned fairy (Angelina Jolie) and the soon to be Queen (Elle Fanning), as they form new alliances and face new adversaries in their struggle to protect the moors and the magical creatures that reside within."

MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL hits theaters October 18.