Audiences sure don’t seem to be growing weary of super hero movies as they keep turning out in droves to see movies like ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ and ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’. (Not so much, ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’. Sorry.) But one fierce contender managed to distinguish herself from the spandex glut, Angelina Jolie as Disney’s classic evil fairy ‘Maleficent’. The movie has now crossed the $600 million mark, making it the highest grossing, non-super hero movie of 2014 so far, besting hits like YA adaptations ‘Divergent’ and ‘The Fault Of Our Stars’ and even the well-received ‘Godzilla’ reboot. (However, ‘Transformers: Edge of Extinction’ is still out and fairly new.)

Somehow, ‘Maleficent’ has hung in there and continued to draw viewers while other movies have come and gone. Keep in mind, grosses are drawn from all territories, which could point to Angelina Jolie being one of the few movie stars that is guaranteed to draw viewers, world wide, while the once sure fire Tom Cruise has clearly slipped in his appeal. Outside the US, a lot of films rely on bankable stars to drive ticket sales. But is Jolie’s undeniable star power the only factor? Perhaps not. The story of ‘Maleficent’ builds upon Disney’s popular classic ‘Sleeping Beauty’. Surely that helped sell the film to many, just as Disney’s ‘Once Upon A Time’ draws viewers to that hit show by drawing from Disney’s vault of popular hits.

The film’s writer, Linda Woolverton is certainly benefiting. It seems highly likely that Disney will be building on ‘Maleficent’ with additional films and will probably turn to Woolverton to script them as well, just as she is currently working on a follow-up to 2010’s Tim Burton-directed ‘Alice In Wonderland’ entitled ‘Through The Looking Glass‘.

What do you think? Were you impressed by ‘Maleficent’? Would you be up for further tales featuring Angelina Jolie in that role?

Source: Cinema Blend