Dan Trachtenberg, the director who has reinvigorated the Predator franchise with his recent films, is setting his sights on one of Disney’s most enduring fairy tales. According to Deadline, Trachtenberg is developing an original film inspired by Sleeping Beauty, marking his latest foray into reworking iconic pop culture properties for a new generation.
The project, which remains untitled and in the early stages of development, represents a notable shift for a filmmaker whose recent work has been defined by visceral, blood-soaked science fiction. Trachtenberg and Rayna McClendon are developing the story, while Alex Anfanger and Dan Schimpf are attached to write the screenplay. Disney has kept plot details tightly under wraps, though Deadline reports that the film intends to take the classic tale in an entirely new direction.
Perhaps most importantly for fans of the original Sleeping Beauty lore, the report clarifies that this is not another entry in the Maleficent franchise. Despite the obvious thematic connection, the new film reportedly has no connection to the two Maleficent films that starred Angelina Jolie, suggesting Trachtenberg is being given a clean slate rather than inheriting an existing continuity.
A Track Record of Reinventing Franchises
Trachtenberg has spent the past few years establishing himself as a director capable of breathing new life into well-established franchises. He made his feature directorial debut with the tense 2016 thriller 10 Cloverfield Lane, a low-budget thriller that earned acclaim for its claustrophobic tension and twist-ending.
He then moved into the Predator universe with 2022’s Prey, a prequel that was widely praised for returning the franchise to its horror roots while introducing a compelling new protagonist and setting. That success was followed by Predator: Badlands and the animated Predator: Killer of Killers, further expanding what the franchise could accomplish across different formats and tones.
Trachtenberg and McClendon are developing the story, with Anfanger and Schimpf writing the screenplay, as Disney sends the filmmaker off to find his own unexpected angle on the beloved tale.
Deadline
That body of work raises an obvious question about how he will approach a property as far removed from his usual fare as Sleeping Beauty. Disney is not exactly in the business of making Predator-level bloodbaths, but that does not mean the studio cannot experiment with its established worlds. The success of projects like Andor has demonstrated that Disney can find room for more mature, sophisticated storytelling within its biggest franchises, even those traditionally associated with family entertainment.
What Could Trachtenberg Do With Sleeping Beauty?
It remains difficult to say exactly what Trachtenberg’s version of Sleeping Beauty will look like. Disney has plenty of precedent for reworking its animated classics, whether through traditional live-action remakes or films that completely rethink familiar characters and stories.
Maleficent famously turned the villain of Sleeping Beauty into the central character, while Mufasa: The Lion King explored the backstory of another familiar Disney figure. That track record suggests there is plenty of room for Trachtenberg to find an unexpected approach, particularly with Maleficent now more than a decade old and its creative possibilities somewhat exhausted.
That ambiguity is, in some ways, the appeal. The very fact that a director known for pushing genre boundaries is attached to a Disney fairy tale project creates genuine curiosity about where the studio will let him take it. Whether he will do something similarly radical with Sleeping Beauty remains to be seen, and for now the project is early enough that even its basic premise is being kept secret.
Looking Ahead
With the project still in its earliest stages, no release window or additional creative details have been announced. The writing team is in place, but the story itself is still being shaped, and Disney appears to be moving carefully as it develops this fresh take on a decades-old classic.
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