Angelina Jolie’s “Maleficent” crosses $600 million at global box office

PanARMENIAN.Net - Disney's famous sorceress has exacted her revenge. Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie as the iconic character from Sleeping Beauty, crossed the $600 million mark at the global box office after five weeks in release, an impressive feat considering it is a female-fueled property, The Hollywood Reporter said.

It's the No. 4 title of the year so far behind X-Men: Days of Future Past, which has earned $713.9 million to date, Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($711.2 million) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($702.7 million). To boot, Maleficent is the year's top-grossing original title.

In North America, the live-action fairy tale has now earned $205 million, putting it ahead of fellow summer tentpoles Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($200.2 million) and Godzilla ($197.2 million).

The movie, costing at least $175 million to make, was produced by Joe Roth, who also made live-action fairy tales Alice in Wonderland and Oz the Great and Powerful for Disney. Maleficent has blown past the $493.3 million earned by Oz, but it won't match the $1 billion-plus grossed by Tim Burton's Alice.

Overseas, Maleficent has done huge business in Latin America, despite competition from the World Cup, earning $43.2 million in Mexico alone. In China, it has grossed nearly $40 million. It launches in its final market, Japan, on July 5. Japan could prove especially lucrative, since Maleficent opens on the heels of Frozen there.

Maleficent, a passion project for Jolie, is the actress' most successful live-action film, not accounting for inflation.

It's also the second Disney title of the year to cross $600 million, after Marvel's The Winter Soldier.