Disney World’s New Villain Land Proves It’s Time to Start a New Movie Trend

At D23 this year, Disney made an announcement to expand Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom park by creating a new villain-themed land. In addition, a new Cars-themed area will be introduced to the Magic Kingdom over 10 years after the opening of Cars Land at Disney California Adventure in 2012. Going away to make room for the new attractions will be Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America. It’s one of many changes Disney has made to its parks over the years to center them more around the studio’s movie franchises and less around the traditions and Americana on which the original Disneyland was also established.

In more recent years, Disney has started to pay attention to the growing fan base surrounding its villains. The studio has even invested in the retelling of its classic fairy tales from the perspective of its villains in the early 2000s in book form. So, it’s no surprise that, in 2014, Maleficent premiered and merited a sequel five years later. Still, even with Cruella, it seems like Disney might be ignoring the huge opportunity to capitalize more on its vast library of villains for a full-on live-action Disney film franchise.

Maleficent and Cruella Prove There’s an Audience for Disney Villains

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It’s been 10 years since the premiere of Maleficent starring Angelina Jolie. The movie retold the story of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of its antagonist, the horned sorceress Maleficent. It also starred Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora. The movie changes many details from the original 1959 film, including casting King Stefan in the role of the “bad guy” and creating a more sympathetic pathos for Maleficent. The movie grossed over $700 million and was followed by Maleficent: Mistress of All Evil in 2019.

It would be another two years before Disney dropped a live-action villain-centered film. Cruella featured Emma Stone in the titled role and Emma Thompson as her estranged fashionista birth-mother, Baroness von Hellman. Stone stepped into the role after Glenn Close’s iconic performance as the titular Disney Villain in the 101 Dalmatians movies of the 1990s. The movie didn’t have the financial success of Maleficent, but shortly after the film’s release it was announced there would be a follow-up. Although critics pointed out some weaknesses in the film with its over two-hour runtime, it maintains a 97% score with audiences on Rotton Tomatoes.

There has been a concerted effort by Disney to flesh out its villains more and add more depth to these characters. 2023’s Peter Pan & Wendy essentially turns the tables on the character of Captain Hook (Jude Law) and places Peter Pan in the role of the villain in their relationship. The darker take on the 1953 animated Peter Pan film pins Hook’s villain origin story on Peter Pan. Pan disowns the once once-lost boy, James (Hook), for leaving Neverland after his best friend begins to miss his mother. The movie tanked with audiences, but its worth considering how much better it might have done if it had been re-imagined as Hook’s story and not a straight retelling of Peter Pan.

Disney’s come close to the mark with its Descendants series, but they’re largely marketed to a younger audience. The Disney Channel Original Movie series focuses on the children of Disney Heroes and Disney Villains in a world where they all cohabitate. The most recent feature-length installment in the franchise, Descendants: The Rose of Red, premiered in 2024 on Disney+. Even though iconic Disney Heroes, Disney Princesses, and Disney Villains play a role in the series, it’s mostly focused on their offspring. The success of Descendants is a clear marker of largely untapped potential for Disney Villains as a brand. It’s a neon sign for Disney to invest in a theatrical live-action Villains franchise.

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Separate from movies like Maleficent and Cruella, Disney has developed its villains in other mediums. There are currently 11 novels in a Disney Villains series along with multiple graphic novels. The books work as a documentation of various Disney Villains’ rise to their role of antagonist. The first book, Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen, tells the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ villain: The Evil Queen. Author Serena Valentino most recently teased on her Instagram that details of 12th upcoming novel will not be leaked just yet, but fans are hedging their bets on The Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland), Yzma (The Emperor’s New Groove), Madam Mim (Sword in the Stone), or Madam Medusa (The Rescuers).

Disney Studios actually passed on the opportunity to develop the series for streaming. In 2019, it was announced that Disney would develop a scripted series titled The Book of Enchantment based on the book series. The news did not come officially from Disney, but it was promising. Later that year, it was reported that Disney canceled the series before it even made its debut. Reports about Disney’s dissatisfaction with the “show’s tone and creative direction” surfaced. Executives felt the tone was too dark for the brand, leaving audiences to wonder if the studio knew what they were getting themselves into when the project was green-lit.

One of the most recent Disney Villain-centric projects was the comic series, Disney Villains: Scar. Inspired by The Lion King (1994), writer Chuck Brown (Black Panther) described retelling the movie from the villain’s perspective presented a unique challenge:

“Reinterpreting such a beloved film and character was a bit intimidating. I know people love these characters, and I wanted to do it right. I spent countless hours studying the source material and analyzing Scar’s motivations, desires, and internal struggles. I also worked closely with my Dynamite editor, Nick Cosby, to ensure that my vision for Scar’s story would align with the original narrative while offering new insights into his character and Pride Rock.”

There are currently four issues in Disney Villains: Scar and the fourth is the final issue in the series. The story ends with Scar telling his hyena sidekick that Simba will not ascend to the throne of Pride Rock, and he intends to seize power.

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Since 2015, Disney has spent a huge portion of its energy on recreating live-action versions of its animated films. The movies started off strong with the largely well-received adaptation of Cinderella starring Lily James. Since then, positive reviews have waned, and it genuinely appears as though Disney is putting less effort into their live-action remaginings. In some cases, the remakes are simply animated photo-realistically — such as with The Lion King (2019). Even so, there’s no end in sight to Disney’s live-action remakes. Begging the question: Does the studio know what audiences actually want?

The next major box office draw Disney is banking on is Mufasa: The Lion King. The film is slated to be both a prequel and a sequel to the 2019 live-action The Lion King. In this version, Scar is the adoptive brother of Mufasa — adding yet another version of Scar’s backstory to the Disney universe. The children’s book, The Lion King: A Tale of Two Brothers (1994) was the first attempt Disney presented to explain Scar’s origins. With Disney deciding that its villains are popular enough to create an entire land for them in the parks, it’s surprising this next movie will be based on Mufasa rather than Scar.

Disney has a veritable cash cow of ideas waiting for further development in its cast of villains. All the studio needs to do is be brave enough to go dark. It wouldn’t be the first time Disney decided to take a darker tone with either its animated or live-action movies — and this could be the perfect time.