UK Box Office Spellbound by Maleficent

It’s official, dark sorceress Maleficent has taken over the world. News sources announced that the Disney Film topped the UK box office over the weekend, and left us all spellbound. This week Stealth Media Group asks: just what is all the fuss about, and what are the reviewers saying?

Maleficent Clear Winner at UK Box Office

With the power of dark magic, a classic story of the anti-heroine, Angelina Jolie in the title role and the weight of the Disney film-making machine by its side, Maleficent steamrollered over its competitors this weekend, dominating the UK and Ireland box office with a power we can only call cataclysmic.

In its debut weekend, it managed to amass £6.6 million in the UK, knocking X Men: Days of Future Past into second place. Furthermore, the hype around the film hasn’t died down stateside either, as it cruised to the top of their box office last weekend. What’s in store for you if you’re thinking of taking a trip down local cinema to judge the Disney production for yourself?

The Tale of Maleficent

Maleficent is a retelling of the classic Sleeping Beauty tale from the point of view of the villain. It’s similar to Wicked, in the way that it takes a bright, essentially good, young girl, and shows the audience how outside influences led her down the path of the dark side.

It’s everything you’d expected from a Disney film that has Angelina Jolie at the helm, and the ever delightful Elle Fanning in the supporting role of Aurora (sleeping beauty to the uninitiated). So what are the critics saying?

Angelina Jolie’s Greatest Performance?

It’s a bit of a mixed reaction. Ann Hornaday at the Washington Post called it “a relatively subdued, even dour affair,” however Betsey Sharkey at the Los Angeles Times hailed it as “visually striking” and reviews have fallen at every degree between these two extremes across the board.

However there is universal praise for Jolie as the enchantingly nasty, yet vulnerable Maleficent. Geoffrey Macnab at The Independent labelled her performance “diva like,” Sheri Linden at the Hollywood reporter says of her turn in  the role  that “she infuses it, wielding a magnetic and effortless power as the magnificently malevolent fairy,” and Hornaday says that the film is “improbably entertaining watch, due solely to its title character.

Stealth Media Group: If You Like Angelina Jolie, This Film is For You

So at Stealth Media Group, we think it’s a pretty clear consensus: Maleficent may be a bit of a mixed bag, but Jolie has been universally praised as its saving grace. If you’re a fan of the perennial actress, this is one film you have to see!