Disney Is Developing an Original ‘Sleeping Beauty’-Inspired Movie, and the Director Has Been Revealed

Few Disney stories have been retold as often as ‘Sleeping Beauty’. The 1959 animated classic follows Princess Aurora, cursed by Maleficent to die after pricking her finger on a spinning wheel’s spindle before her 16th birthday. Three good fairies soften the curse into a deep sleep that only a kiss from her true love can break.

Disney has already gone back to that well once in live action. The 2014 film ‘Maleficent’ retold the story from the villain’s perspective, followed by ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’ in 2019, and the first movie grossed $759.8 million worldwide.

Now the studio is preparing a very different kind of return. According to a Deadline exclusive, ‘Prey’ director Dan Trachtenberg is coming aboard to direct an original film inspired by the classic ‘Sleeping Beauty’ tale. Insiders told the outlet that the project has no connection to the ‘Maleficent’ films starring Angelina Jolie.

The untitled project is in early development, and plot details are being kept under wraps. Deadline describes it as taking the fairy tale in an entirely new direction with Trachtenberg’s distinct sensibility.

Trachtenberg and Raya McClendon came up with the story, while Alex Anfanger and Dan Schimpf are writing the script. Trachtenberg will produce with his longtime partner Ben Rosenblatt and ‘Star Wars’ producer Michelle Rejwan.

Disney executives overseeing the film include Jessica Virtue and Alina Mota, who report to Disney Live Action President Daria Cercek.

The announcement has been met with some surprise. World of Reel called it an odd pairing, noting that Anfanger and Schimpf come from an absurdist comedy background. They co-created the Comedy Central series ‘Big Time in Hollywood, FL’, which could suggest this won’t be a straight-faced retelling.

That would fit a filmmaker who has made a career out of unexpected angles on familiar properties. Trachtenberg’s breakout with ‘Prey’ revitalized the Predator franchise, and it became a massive success on Hulu, earning an Emmy nomination for best TV movie.

The relationship between the director and the studio is already strong. After ‘Prey’, he made ‘Predator: Badlands’ and the animated ‘Predator: Killer of Killers’ for Hulu, which holds a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes. All 3 of his Predator entries are the highest-rated in the franchise on Rotten Tomatoes.

His feature debut was ’10 Cloverfield Lane’, and he directed the pilot of ‘The Boys’. That mix of tension, character work and genre invention may be what makes him an appealing choice for a fairy tale that has been told many times.

Trachtenberg is not short on projects. He is currently in pre-production on a top-secret film at Paramount, where he signed a first-look deal earlier this year. He is also attached to ‘Freddy the 13th’, an animated horror comedy for Paramount Animation based on the indie comic by Yehudi Mercado.

Even with that workload, he has said he plans to keep working with Disney and 20th Century Studios on future Predator projects. The ‘Sleeping Beauty’ film adds a new chapter to that relationship.

With no cast, title or release date announced, everything about the tone is speculation. The one clear signal is a deliberate break from the ‘Maleficent’ films, which suggests Disney wants a clean slate rather than a sequel or spinoff.

That leaves plenty of room for surprises. A director known for reinventing monster movies, paired with writers from the absurdist comedy world, could produce something no one expects from a princess story.

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