After helping create the worlds of Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, Oz the Great and Powerful and many more, production designer and visual effects supervisor Robert Stromberg will have his first crack at directing with Disney’s new take on Sleeping Beauty, particularly focusing on the villain Maleficent.
Led by Angelina Jolie, the studio has released the first poster for the project ahead of a trailer arriving tomorrow at noon EST. Check it out below, along with the synopsis, for the film also starring Sharlto Copley, Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple and Lesley Manville.
From Disney comes “Maleficent”—the untold story of Disney’s most iconic villain from the 1959 classic “Sleeping Beauty.” A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land’s fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal—an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading king’s successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom—and perhaps to Maleficent’s true happiness as well.
Maleficent opens on May 30th, 2014.