'Maleficent 2' Footage Introduces Us To The 'Mistress Of Evil' [CinemaCon 2019]

While Disney has been remaking their animated films for years, their recent animation-to-live-action craze was kicked-off with two films: Tim Burton's 2010 Alice in Wonderland, and 2014's Maleficent. Maleficent retold the story of Sleeping Beauty from the point of view of the villain, played by Angelina Jolie. Now, a sequel is arriving: Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. We saw new footage from the film at CinemaCon, and lived to tell the tale. Here's what we saw.

The footage was a behind-the-scenes featurette that first recaps the classic Sleeping Beauty story before pivoting to what this sequel is actually about: is the misunderstood Maleficent good enough to be an adoptive mother to Aurora?

Prince Phillip soon enters the picture, inviting both women to the castle, where they meet Queen Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer). Marriage is proposed and drama ensues! Maleficent and Aurora love each other, but they're divided on whether or not this proposal is a good thing. The footage even includes a moment where Maleficent finds out about the marriage and gets furious. And maybe she has a point – while Queen Ingrid says that marriage is a beautiful thing and wants to unite everyone, she seems to have other plans in mind.

The footage also included shots of a dark and thorny forest, Aurora struggling to be a "cookie cutter royal," and Ingrid trying to be a mother figure to Aurora, which really gets under Maleficent's skin.

Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning are back in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, the sequel to Maleficent. The duo are joined by new cast members Michelle Pfieffer, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ed Skrein and Robert Lindsay. Additional cast members returning from the 2014 first film include: Sam Riley as Diaval; Imelda Staunton as the pixie Knotgrass; Juno Temple as the pixie Thistlewit; and Lesley Manville as the pixie Flittle.Maleficent: Mistress of Evil will be released October 18, 2019.

A fantasy adventure that picks up several years after "Maleficent," in which audiences learned of the events that hardened the heart of Disney's most notorious villain and drove her to curse a baby Princess Aurora, "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" continues to explore the complex relationship between the horned fairy and the soon to be Queen, as they form new alliances and face new adversaries in their struggle to protect the moors and the magical creatures that reside within.