Long range tracking for Disney’s Maleficent: Mistress of Evil has the film making less in its opening weekend at the box office than the first film released in 2014.

According To Box Office Pro, the film is headed for a $30-50 million opening weekend. Which would be significantly less than the first film, which made $69 million in its opening weekend five years ago, and would go on to make $758.5 million at the global box office.

It should be noted that the trailers for Maleficent: Mistress of Evil have been gotten great word of mouth and has driven solid online activity across social media platforms, outperforming trends of recent Disney pics like Dumbo and A Wrinkle In Time.

The big negative from all this is hitting theaters five years after the first film, so it is very possible that people have lost interest in the world. A great example would be the six year gap between Disney’s  Alice In Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass. The latter sequel dropped 77 percent from its blockbuster predecessor, and would go on to gross over $700 million less. So it is not a crazy idea that the same could happen to Maleficent.

The years have been kind to Maleficent and Aurora. Their relationship, born of heartbreak, revenge and ultimately love, has flourished. Yet the hatred between man and the fairies still exists. Aurora’s impending marriage to Prince Phillip is cause for celebration in the kingdom of Ulstead and the neighboring Moors, as the wedding serves to unite the two worlds. When an unexpected encounter introduces a powerful new alliance, Maleficent and Aurora are pulled apart to opposing sides in a Great War, testing their loyalties and causing them to question whether they can truly be family.

A follow-up to the 2014 global box-office hit with Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning reprising their roles as the dark fairy Maleficent and Princess Aurora.

Directed by Joachim Rønning (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) the film also stars Michelle Pfeiffer (Ant-Man and the Wasp) as Queen Ingrith, Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange), Ed Skrein (Deadpool), and Robert Lindsay, and Harris Dickinson joins as Prince Phillip, replacing the original films Brenton Thwaites. Additional cast members returning from the 2014 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 is set to hit theaters on October 18, 2019.

Source: Box Office Pro