Maleficent 3 has officially received the green light from Disney, as per one of the latest reports from the Wall Street Journal. It means that Angelina Jolie will reprise the titular role in the upcoming threequel.
The first Maleficent film came out in 2014 and earned over $758 million worldwide. Its sequel, Mistress of Evil, arrived in 2019 but underperformed compared to its predecessor, collecting only $491 million globally, with only $114 million coming from domestic collections. It needed $500 million in total to break even. Apart from its poor storyline and over-reliance on CGI, the five-year gap between the first and the second entry contributed significantly to the sequel’s underperformance. Such long gaps often diminish the hype and excitement associated with big movie franchises or prominent film characters. And that’s exactly what happened with Mistress of Evil.
Disney may have put Maleficent 3 in the works. But it seems like a risky investment from the studio, considering all the facts mentioned above. Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO, recently admitted the studio’s over-dependence on sequels but did not apologise for making them, making it clear that viewers should expect more sequels from the studio in future. Maleficent 3 is a part of that strategy, too.
We do not know the release window of Maleficent 3. It will likely arrive in theatres in 2025 or 2026, creating a six or seven-year gap from its 2019 predecessor. A gap this long could hurt the third part’s theatrical run. In addition, a lot will depend upon the film’s storyline and foreign collections, as the domestic collections of previous Maleficent entries are poor.
Maleficent 3 will need a lot more than Angelina Jolie’s charm and stardom to ensure its sustained survival at the box office. Let’s see how Disney deals with this situation. Stay tuned for more updates.