Emma Stone is officially returning to star as Cruella de Vil in Cruella 2. Disney’s practice of reimagining its animated movies in live-action has proven to be an incredibly successful model over the last decade. Cruella is the most recent live-action remake, but this one serves as a prequel to 101 Dalmations. The film was originally set to be released in theaters in 2020, but Disney was forced to delay it until 2021 due to COVID-19. Disney also elected to make Cruella available on Disney+ as a Premier Access title the same day as its theatrical release.
Despite the split release strategy and the theatrical box office still being much lower than before COVID-19, Cruella managed to become a decent hit for Disney. It earned more than $220 million worldwide on a reported $100M budget. The studio hasn’t announced financial figures to show how the film fared against the $29.99 Premier Access price, but it seemed to have done quite well considering Cruella 2 was already put into development. The sequel already had director Craig Gillespie and writer Tony McNamara set to return, and now Emma Stone is officially back too.
According to a report from Deadline, Emma Stone has closed a deal to star in Cruella 2. Details of the deal were not disclosed, but it reportedly is a beneficial deal for both Stone and Disney. The report notes that it is not yet confirmed whether Cruella‘s sequel will be a theatrical exclusive launch, a Disney+ exclusive, or a hybrid release.
The confirmation of Stone’s involvement in Cruella 2 comes at an important time for Disney in regards to its relationship with talent and streaming deals. The studio is in the midst of a heated legal battle with Scarlett Johansson over Black Widow‘s Disney+ release. It was later reported that Stone was considering filing a similar lawsuit depending on how Johansson’s unfolded since Cruella received a similar rollout. That is likely off the table now that Stone has presumably found another major payday through Disney that should compensate her fairly no matter how Cruella 2 is released.
Now that Stone is back for Cruella 2, the sequel should continue to make positive progress as Disney looks to capitalize on the success of the first film. But, this could also be a major moment for Disney when it comes to negotiating deals with major stars to lead upcoming projects. No one knows when the theatrical business model will recover to pre-pandemic heights, but hybrid releases and shorter exclusive theatrical runs are likely here to stay. If Disney was able to strike a big deal with Emma Stone for Cruella 2, the same should be true for all future Disney releases.
