MALEFICENT Gets Release Date

Walt Disney Studios is moving forward on Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie in the title role.

March 14, 2014 will be the release date for the live action film that focuses on the origins of the Sleeping Beauty villain. The story will show how Maleficent came to the point where she curses Princess Aurora to sleep forever.

So it seems that there will be more to the story than just sour grapes at having been left off the guest list for a party…

It’s interesting to note that the e-mail notice from the Walt Disney publicity department describes Maleficent as an evil fairy, not a witch. Could that have any meaning? Or is it just a slip-up that nobody corrected? For Maleficent to be a fairy instead of a witch seems to be a stretch of the definition, especially given Mal’s ability to transform into a dragon…

The film’s creative team includes Academy Award®-winning production designer Robert Stromberg (Avatar, Disney’s Alice in Wonderland and Oz The Great and Powerful), who will direct with a script by Linda Woolverton (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Alice in Wonderland). Maleficent is produced by Joe Roth (Disney’s Alice in Wonderland and Oz The Great and Powerful).