It's common for big blockbusters to have their release dates delayed, but Maleficent: Mistress of Evil had the exact opposite happen.
Earlier this year, Disney brought forward the Maleficent sequel seven months from its scheduled May 2020 release to October 18, 2019. No reason was given at the time, but director Joachim Rønning has now spoken about the surprising change.
"I think [Disney] saw an opportunity to bring it forward. They saw a director's cut and they were happy with it, and they saw that maybe we don't need to wait another seven months," he told Digital Spy.
"I think it was nice to also get out in front of Halloween. It's a scarier movie, so suddenly it was an opportunity to be had. I was very happy with that."
Rønning had worked with Disney before on Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge. Given his background in independent movies and "doing much more of it on [his] own", it taught him a valuable lesson.
"On my previous films, I even made the posters and you don't really have to do the posters when you're working with Disney – there's a thousand people making posters over there and they're all amazing," he explained.
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"I think I learnt to pick my battles and let go of the control a little bit because there's top shelf, the best people both in front of the camera and behind it."
And it helps of course when your movie has a cast that includes Angelina Jolie, Michelle Pfeiffer and Elle Fanning.
"Angelina Jolie very much knows the character of Maleficent so the direction is a little bit different. It's not, 'I don't think Maleficent would do that' – I would never say that because she knows," he reflected.
"To have Michelle Pfeiffer, Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning battling it out in front of my camera, it's just so privileged as a director to have that. I really felt that watching my monitor on set that I was in the movies because they're so iconic."
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Ahead of its release, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil has been receiving positive first reactions, so Disney looks set for another hit.
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is released in cinemas on October 18.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
