One of Disney’s most iconic villains stared down some serious box office competition and mediocre reviews to emerge victorious at the box office this weekend. Earning an estimated $70 million, “Maleficent” locked last week’s winner “X-Men: Days of Future Past” in the dungeon and buried this week’s new film “A Million Ways to Die in the West” in a shallow grave.
Overseas, Maleficent has already brought in over $100 million, bringing the total take for the film to more than $170 million so far. That’s a good thing, since Maleficent cost a reported $300 million to produce and market. It will have to earn twice that amount to break even for Disney. Of course, when you add in merchandise and DVD sales, it’s a sure bet. Right?
This marks Angelina Jolie’s first return to the big screen in 4 years. It seems obvious she hasn’t lost her touch at all.
I went back to see it for a second time and, while I still would like to have seen more of Maleficent being Maleficent, I was surprised how well the film held up on a second viewing. Other than Elle Fanning’s eyebrows, which deserve a credit all their own (they were so distracting in the close up shots, of which there were a lot), I found myself enjoying Jolie’s performance more, wishing there was more of Diaval (the crow), and King Stefan was slightly less annoying. You just have to listen to the narration more closely as it explains Stefan’s motivation, although still not exactly clear enough for me. It did make more sense this time.
While, I’m not the target market. I can see how the film will resonate with Moms and daughters who are looking for another film to extend that warm feel they got from Disney’s Frozen. Maleficent will have to be at her most cunning to stay ahead of “The Fault in our Stars,” which is predicted to well with women and girls at the box office starting next weekend.
Have you seen Maleficent already? If so, do you think you’ll see it again in theaters? Let us know in the comments.
I must say that I had ready several reviews of Maleficent and was apprehensive before going in … so my sister and I went and said to ourselves that we would see it with an open mind. So to get to the point, I must say that I disagree with a lot of the reviews … sure, this movie is an Alternate Universe type of story where what you had known and see or read from the “original” is not there at all. It’s pretty much Topsy Turvy … The Princesses are more in power for sure though not being the focal point. Maleficent’s story here is more of one of doomed love. She falls in love with a Human and Stefan falls in love with a Fairy ! a bit like Romeo and Juliet. I know I have to get into spoilers here but we didn’t find the movie to be Feminism in your face (and that comes from my sister) nor did we find any villains. Stefan was indeed in love with Maleficent and I think it was well shown in the movie and he actually saves her. Why ? Well by cutting her wings, he made sure that no one killed her but she didn’t realize this. Now take that same scene with Maleficent and Diaval when she saves him. She turns him human and he says, in so many words, that “she changed him into this hideous form” to which again she replied, in so many words, “Well I save you”… To me that exchange describes what happen with Stefan or what went through his mind. Yes it changed Maleficent body but the others would have killed her. And later as he becomes king, he doesn’t try to take over the land … unfortunately, that was not how Maleficent saw this and when she came to the christening, I think it broke his heart and not having a conscience, aka Diaval, he went insane and ended up the way he did. He lost his heart and mind and went too far to get back from. You know that when he talks to himself in that scene. I won’t go into the other stuff, because it would give everything away (the Prince, the Kingdoms, etc) So I will end that overall it was a good movie for an Alternate Universe.
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