There's Already A 'Cruella' Sequel In Development At Disney, Darling
Cruella has barely spent a whole week at the box office and on Disney+ Premier Access, but apparently that's enough for the House of Mouse to already begin development on a sequel. The origin story of 101 Dalmatians villain Cruella de Vil put Emma Stone in the shoes of the maniac who once wanted to skin the titular dogs to make a fur coat. But this new approach has put the ferocious fashionista on a bit of a different trajectory, at least for the time being, and Disney wants her story to continue.The Hollywood Reporter has word on the Cruella sequel heading into development at Disney+. Cruella director Craig Gillespie and writer Tony McNamara are both expected to return, and obviously Emma Stone will be back, presumably bringing Paul Walter Hauser and Joel Fry along as her accomplices Horace and Jasper.
A Disney spokesperson responded to the news in a statement without confirmation of the sequel being in the works:
"We are very pleased with Cruella's box office success, in conjunction with its strong Disney+ Premier Access performance to date. The film has been incredibly well received by audiences around the world, with a 97% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes in addition to A's in every demographic from CinemaScore on opening weekend, ranking it among the most popular of our live-action reimaginings. We look forward to a long run as audiences continue to enjoy this fantastic film."
Cruella has received surprisingly great reviews (and a lukewarm reaction from our own Josh Spiegel), and the box office numbers combined with the viewership on Disney+ Premier Access so far must have been satisfactory enough for Disney to at least explore what a sequel could look like. For what it's worth, after Cruella's debut last weekend, Craig Gillespie said:
"I feel like we've only just met her. I'd love to now see the full-blown Cruella, fully loaded. She's managed to get the support system around her and she can really expand on her brand. I'd love to see where that takes her and how you could almost destroy her from inside out, if she's not careful with all that power."
On top of that, a credits scene teased the possibility of retelling the 101 Dalmatians story, but with some interesting changes to the villain's relationship with the original film's primary human characters. Both Roger and Anita have a little history with Cruella's origin story, and she ends up gifting them with the dogs Pongo and Perdita (respectively) as puppies. However, that doesn't mean the Cruella sequel is guaranteed to remake 101 Dalmatians. There are plenty of directions the story could take Cruella before that happens. After all, the puppies need time to grow, and there's a lot of trouble Cruella de Vil can stir up in the interim. Stay tuned.