2019 has already been a record breaking year for The Walt Disney Company, with Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame dethroning Avatar to become the biggest movie of all time and one of five of the studio’s releases to pass the $1 billion mark – including two of its animated remakes in Aladdin and The Lion King.
Disney does have one other Fairy Tale incoming this year in the Angelina Jolie-headlined Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, but it seems the sequel to 2014’s live-action Sleeping Beauty might struggle to repeat that kind of success, with long-range tracking from Box Office Pro estimating an opening weekend of just $37 million.
The first Maleficent opened to $69 million domestically in 2014 and went on to earn $241 million in North America and $758 million worldwide. However, if the tracking proves accurate, Mistress of Evil could end up going the way of Disney’s last live-action Alice Through the Looking Glass and fall some way short of its predecessor in terms of financial success.
SEE ALSO: Maleficent: Mistress of Evil TV spot pits Angelina Jolie against Michelle Pfeiffer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnifwtuPY5k
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: Mistress of Evil” continues to explore the complex relationship between the horned fairy and the soon to be Queen, 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 is set for release on October 18th and sees the return of Angelina Jolie as the dark fairy Maleficent, Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora, Sam Riley as Diaval, Imelda Staunton as the pixie Knotgrass, Juno Temple as the pixie Thistlewit, and Lesley Manville as the pixie Flittle. New additions include Michelle Pfeiffer (Murder on the Orient Express, Ant-Man and the Wasp) as Queen Ingrith, Harris Dickinson (The Darkest Minds, Trust) as Prince Phillip, Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange, 12 Years a Slave) as Connal, Robert Lindsay (My Family, Wimbledon) as King John and Ed Skrein (Deadpool, Game of Thrones) in an as yet unrevealed role.
