Disney has started work on a sequel to Maleficent, the studio’s reimagining of the Sleeping Beauty tale that became a huge hit last year. It’s not known if Angelina Jolie would come back, but since she plays the title character, you would think she would have to.
Disney has already picked Linda Woolverton, who wrote the Maleficent screenplay, to write the new movie, reports Deadline. The studio is in communication with Jolie, so the sequel will be written for her.
However, Deadline does point out that past sequels to Jolie hits haven’t worked out. She was onboard to develop sequels to the action hits Salt and Wanted, but neither of those were ever actually made. Plus, Disney hasn’t signed on director Robert Stromberg, a two-time Oscar-winning production designer who helped Maleficent.
When the first film came out, Jolie did an interview with USA Today and only said she would “probably” do a Maleficent 2. “I enjoyed it. I just feel like we did this one thoroughly and I don’t think there’d be another,” she said. “I feel like this is the one, if I was going to ever do a Disney one, this is the one I wanted to do. And I think we’ve done it well.”
Disney’s live-action versions of animated classics have practically been money-printing machines, starting with 2010’s Alice in Wonderland and this year’s Cinderella. Alice in Wonderland: Through The Looking Glass is already in production and will hit theaters in May 2016. Other future live-action movies include Beauty and the Beast, Dumbo, The Jungle Book and, yes, a film based on a Fantasia segment. And Disney still can’t find the money to make Tron 3.
Maleficent grossed $750 million worldwide and earned an Oscar nomination for costume design. Elle Fanning co-starred as Princess Aurora.