Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019)
Trivia
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Spoilers (6)
Released on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the original Sleeping Beauty (1959).
The title "Mistress of Evil" was used for some foreign language versions of the first Maleficent (2014) film, which may explain why many countries opted to use the film's alternative title, 'Maleficent 2,' dropping the subtitle altogether.
Harris Dickinson took over the role of Prince Phillip from Brenton Thwaites due to scheduling conflicts with Titans (2018). As such, Thwaites missed the opportunity to work again with director Joachim Rønning, as they had previously collaborated on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017).
Queen Ingrith's costume is based on portraited gowns of Queens Henrietta Maria of France, Eleonora di Garzia di Toledo and Anne of Denmark According to Ellen Mirojnick: "The castle and costume design isn't so medieval it is more like the early modern period," which is from 1550 to 1750 and costumes are based on England, France, Germany, Scotland.
Screenwriter Linda Woolverton returned to write the sequel with Angelina Jolie reprising her title role, with Elle Fanning reprising Aurora. Joe Roth returned as the producer.
Maleficent's line "What an awkward situation" was also said in the first Maleficent (2014).
In the trailer, Maleficent's magic is green, which in the previous Maleficent (2014), was only the case if she was evil. While it could be editing to throw the audience off, it could also indicate Maleficent has turned down a dark path.
The film's cast includes one Oscar winner: Angelina Jolie; and four Oscar nominees: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville, and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Robert Lindsay (King John) starred in the popular BBC comedy series My Family (2000) from 2000-2011. In My Family: Auto Erotica (2002), his character makes a quip to his wife about wishing to be Michelle Pfeiffer's love toy. In this movie, Robert Lindsay and Michelle Pfeiffer act as husband and wife.
On March 6, 2019, Disney released the first teaser poster featuring Maleficent, along with a new release date for the film set for Friday, October 18, 2019. The film had been originally scheduled to open seven months later on May 29, 2020.
Conall tells Maleficent, "Remember who you are," which is a line spoken by Mufasa in Disney's The Lion King (1994)/The Lion King (2019).
This is Angelina Jolie's first live-action movie role since By the Sea (2015).
Second film in the lineup of Disney remakes to star Chiwetel Ejiofor, after The Lion King (2019), released three months prior.
Though no sources said this, it can be inferred that Lady Gerda can be the movie version of Lord Duke (a character from the original ''Sleeping Beauty (1959)'' and ''Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams'') due to their similarities in roles as announcer and head servant. As such, Gerda is more of an evil and dangerous character.
This is Disney's fourth film to be Specially Formatted for IMAX (1.90:1), since Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017), which was also directed by Joachim Rønning. Other Disney films that have been formatted for IMAX's expanded aspect ratio include Tomorrowland (2015) and Beauty and the Beast (2017).
This is the first theatrically released live-action Disney sequel not released over a decade after its predecessor to recast one of the live-action cast members, which applies to Brenton Thwaites, as well as the third live-action Disney sequel of all time to do so, following the straight-to-video/DVD live-action films Inspector Gadget 2 (2003) with Matthew Broderick and George of the Jungle 2 (2003) with Brendan Fraser, Leslie Mann, and Holland Taylor.
The first film that Joachim Rønning has worked on without usual co-director Espen Sandberg.
With a run time of 118 minutes (1 hour and 58 minutes), this film is 21 minutes longer than Maleficent (2014), which has a run time of 97 minutes (1 hour and 37 minutes).
This is the second sequel to a Disney live-action adaptation of an animated film not to have its music score composed by the same composer as its predecessor (James Newton Howard scored the previous film while Geoff Zanelli took over for this film) after 102 Dalmatians (2000) (which was scored by David Newman).
According to Rotten Tomatoes this sequel has 4% lower than its predecessor. Maleficent (2014) got 50% RT and the sequel only got 46% on RT.
Spoilers
When Aurora walks down the aisle at the end of the movie, the fairies argue as they change the colour of Aurora's wedding dress with magic. In Sleeping Beauty (1959), the fairies similarly argued over the colour of Aurora/Briar Rose's dress they are creating.
A royal household would use gold or (less ostentatiously) silver cutlery, thus the iron cutlery which hurts Maleficent is due to Ingrith's villainy.
Having Michelle Pfeiffer's character turn into a goat at the end of the film may be a nod to Stardust (2007) in which her character (a witch) turns another character into a goat.
The brass fanfare played immediately prior to the announcement/invitation to the Moors of Aurora's and Philip's wedding is from the beginning of the fourth/last movement of the Symphony No. 8 in G Major by the Czech composer Antonín Dvorák (with the scoring slightly modified for the movie).
This is the fourth time that Michelle Pfeiffer played a villain. The first being Catwoman in Batman Returns (1992) (though Catwoman is more of an antihero than flat out villain), the second time being Velma Von Tussle in Hairspray (2007) and the third time being Lamia in Stardust (2007). (Ingrid Magnussen in White Oleander (2002) also displays somewhat villainous qualities.)
Released in the same year as X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019), another film that also features a dark phoenix in its plot.