Cruella

Plot

In 1964 England, Estella Miller is a creative child with a talent for fashion, but is ostracized for her black and white hair and rebellious behavior. After Estella is expelled from school, her mother Catherine decides to move them to London, stopping at a party at Hellman Hall, a mansion on the Suffolk coast, to ask the host for money. Sneaking inside, Estella loses her mother's necklace while being chased by the host's Dalmatian dogs, which push Catherine off a cliffside balcony to her death. Orphaned, Estella runs away to London and befriends street urchins Jasper and Horace.

In 1977, Jasper, Horace and Estella are making a living as thieves. Jasper gets Estella a job at the Liberty department store, but she is made a janitor and denied the chance to design clothes. She drunkenly redecorates the window display and impresses Baroness von Hellman, a renowned but authoritarian haute couture designer who offers her a coveted job at her fashion house. Estella notices the Baroness wearing Catherine's necklace, which she claims is a family heirloom once stolen by an employee. Estella asks Jasper and Horace to help retrieve it during the Baroness's Black and White Ball.

To conceal her identity, Estella creates an alter ego named "Cruella" based on her childhood nickname, letting her natural hair show rather than dying it, and wearing one of the Baroness's modified designs. Jasper releases rats into the party, allowing Estella to swipe the necklace. The Baroness summons her Dalmatians with a dog whistle, making Estella realize that the Baroness killed her mother. Seeking revenge, Estella orders Jasper and Horace to kidnap the Dalmatians after one of them swallows the necklace. Over the next few months, she upstages the Baroness at various events, gaining notoriety via her childhood friend, society columnist Anita Darling. The furious Baroness fires her lawyer, Roger Dearly, for failing to stop Cruella, while Estella's increasingly haughty behavior discomforts Jasper and Horace.

Estella designs a beaded dress, secretly disguising moth cocoons as beads, for the Baroness's spring collection. On the night of the show, the Baroness finds that the collection has been destroyed by the moths, and realizes Estella and Cruella are the same person. After staging her own rock music fashion show outside in Regent's Park, Estella is captured by the Baroness's men, along with Jasper and Horace who are framed by the Baroness for Cruella's murder. The Baroness sets their hideout on fire and leaves Estella inside to die. She is saved by John, the Baroness's valet, who has retrieved the necklace from the fire. He reveals that the necklace unlocks a box containing Estella's birth records, proving that the Baroness is her biological mother. Refusing to accept motherhood over her career, she ordered John to murder the baby, and told her husband, Baron von Hellman, that the baby did not survive the birth, causing him to die of a broken heart. John, who could not bring himself to commit murder, instead gave the baby to Catherine, one of the Baroness's maids, who raised Estella in secret.

Cast

Emma Stone as Estella Miller / Cruella de Vil, an ambitious grifter and aspiring fashion designer, who goes on to become a notorious and dangerous criminal.

Billie Gadsdon as 5-year-old Estella

Tipper Seifert-Cleveland as 12-year-old Estella

Emma Thompson as Baroness von Hellman, the narcissistic, authoritarian, and egotistical head of a prestigious London fashion house and a renowned haute couture designer, who is Estella's new boss and eventual rival. She is the biological mother of Estella.

Joel Fry as Jasper, a thief who grew up with Estella after her adoptive mother's death. To play Jasper, Fry did not look back at the character's depiction in the original animated film or the 1996 live-action remake, only copying his physical mannerisms.

Ziggy Gardner as young Jasper

Paul Walter Hauser as Horace, a thief who grew up with Estella after her adoptive mother's death and Jasper's best friend. Hauser drew inspiration for the role from the performance of Bob Hoskins as Mr. Smee in Hook.

Joseph MacDonald as young Horace

Emily Beecham as Catherine Miller, Estella's adoptive mother, an impoverished laundrywoman and former maid at Hellman Hall.

Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Anita Darling, Estella's friend when Estella was a kid, who works as a gossip columnist. Anita is later gifted a female Dalmatian puppy named Perdita by Cruella.

Florisa Kamara as young Anita

Mark Strong as John, the Baroness's valet and loyal confidante who aids her in her schemes.

Production

Development and casting

A live-action Cruella de Vil film, based upon the character in Disney's 101 Dalmatians franchise, was announced in 2013. Andrew Gunn was hired to produce the film, with Glenn Close (who previously played the character in the 1996 live-action adaptation 101 Dalmatians and its sequel 102 Dalmatians) serving as executive producer and Kelly Marcel revising the script originally written by Aline Brosh McKenna. In January 2016, Emma Stone was cast in the titular role of Cruella de Vil. Costume designer Jenny Beavan later stated that her role on the film was to help Stone appear as a younger 1970s portrayal of Close's 1990s role in 101 Dalmatians, possibly confirming the shared continuity between the films, though the characters of Roger and Anita appear as the same age as Cruella and portrayed as different races with different occupations in this film. However, Stone was not allowed to portray Cruella smoking as she had previously been since Disney had banned characters being shown smoking in its films since 2007.

In August 2016, Jez Butterworth was hired to rewrite the previous draft of the screenplay. In November 2016, it was reported that Disney had hired Alex Timbers to direct the live-action adaptation, with [[]] joining the film as a side producer. However, in December 2018, it was revealed that Timbers had left the film due to scheduling conflicts and Craig Gillespie would instead direct the film. In May 2019, Emma Thompson joined the cast as the Baroness, described as "an antagonist to Cruella who's thought to be pivotal in her transformation to the villain we know today". Nicole Kidman was considered to be the top choice, and Charlize Theron, Julianne Moore and Demi Moore were also in consideration for the role, while Dev Patel was considered for the role of Roger Dearly. The same month, Tony McNamara and Dana Fox were hired to write the recent version of the screenplay. Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser were added in the following months as Jasper and Horace.

Filming

In August 2019, during the D23 Expo, it was revealed that principal photography for Cruella had already begun. In September 2019, Mark Strong, Emily Beecham and Kirby Howell-Baptiste were added to the cast. Filming wrapped in November 2019.

Music and soundtrack

Nicholas Britell composed the film's score. The score album was released on May 21, 2021, by Walt Disney Records.

A separate soundtrack album for the film was released on the same day. Both albums feature "Call Me Cruella", an original song performed by Florence and the Machine, which appears in the end credits of the film.

Release

Theatrical and streaming

Cruella was originally scheduled to be theatrically released on December 23, 2020, but it was delayed to May 28, 2021. The film received a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association, "for some violence and thematic elements", making it the second live-action remake/spin-off of a Disney animated film to receive the rating, following Mulan. On March 23, 2021, it was announced that the film would be released simultaneously on Disney+ with Premier Access in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on May 18, 2021, the first major red carpet premiere since the pandemic began.

Tickets for the theatrical screenings went on sale on May 14, 2021, and it was announced that the film would also be screened in Dolby Cinema in select territories. It was first screened for critics the same day.

Marketing

A prequel novel titled Cruella: Hello, Cruel Heart was published by Disney Publishing Worldwide on April 6, 2021. Written by Maureen Johnson, the novel is set before the events of the movie, in 1967. It followed sixteen-year-old Estella and her encounter with Magda and Richard Moresby-Plum, two wealthy siblings who introduced her to the world of the rich and famous.

A tie-in novelization of the film by Elizabeth Rudnick was published by Disney on April 13, 2021. A book titled Cruella's Sketchbook was also released on the same day.

A manga adaptation of the movie by Hachi Ishie, titled Cruella: Black, White and Red was released by Viz Media on August 17, 2021.

On May 28, 2021, MAC Cosmetics launched a make-up collection inspired by the film.

On May 28, 2021, Disney+, in partnership with Social Tailors and Jeferson Araujo released an AR Effect for Cruella, where users could share stories on Instagram of themselves with makeup and visuals inspired by the film.

Home media

According to Samba TV, the film was watched on PVOD by about 686,000 American households in its debut weekend (39% behind Mulan's 1.12 million), resulting in around $20.57 million in revenue for Disney. The company also reported 83,000 UK households watched the film (resulting in $2.35 million), 15,000 in Germany, and 9,000 in Australia. In its first 30 days, the film was watched in an estimated 1.8 million U.S. households, generating a total of $54 million. In January 2022, tech firm Akamai reported that Cruella was the seventh most pirated film of 2021.

Cruella was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on Digital on June 25, 2021, and Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD on September 21, 2021. In the United Kingdom and Australia, the film was released on home video on August 16 and 18, respectively.

On August 27, the film was made available for streaming to all customers on Disney+.

Reception

Box office

Cruella grossed $86.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $147.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $233.5 million.

In the United States and Canada, Cruella was released alongside A Quiet Place Part II, and was projected to gross $17–23 million from 3,892 theaters in its opening weekend, and around $30 million over the four-day Memorial Day frame. The film made $7.7 million in its first day, including $1.4 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $21.5 million and a total of $26.5 million over the four days, finishing second at the box office. 61% of the tracked audience was female, with 43% being under 25 years old. In its sophomore weekend the film grossed $11 million, finishing third behind The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and A Quiet Place Part II. The film then fell to 5th place in its third weekend, grossing $6.7 million. Deadline Hollywood wrote that despite having a running total of $71 million through five weeks, sources believed that the "Disney+ Premier PVOD tier is impacting the pic's overall revenue, not just at the box office, but in the movie's downstream ancillary revenues".

The film made $26.5 million in its domestic opening and earned $16.1 million in 29 other countries, for a global debut of $43 million. In China, Cruella debuted with a less-than-expected $1.7 million opening, finishing behind holdover F9 which earned $8.9 million.

Critical response

Cruella received mostly positive reviews. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 75% of 415 critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Cruella can't quite answer the question of why its title character needed an origin story, but this dazzling visual feast is awfully fun to watch whenever its leading ladies lock horns." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100 based on 56 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 84% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 63% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Writing for Variety, Peter Debruge said: The director, who brought a wicked edge to pop-culture redux I, Tonya a few years back, has rescued Cruella from the predictability of the earlier 101 Dalmatians remakes and created a stylish new franchise of its own in which a one-time villain has been reborn as the unlikeliest of role models.

A. O. Scott of The New York Times called the film "easy enough to watch but hard to care much about", complimenting the film's visual style while also finding that "[the film's] main purpose is to remind you that other movies exist". Peter Travers, reviewing the film for ABC News, wrote: If looks really were everything, Cruella would be flying high on the dazzling costumes that two-time Oscar winner Jenny Beavan has designed for star Emma Stone to swan around in as this iconic villain of page and screen. But looks alone won't cut it when the plot points are so hit and miss.

Justin Chang of Los Angeles Times remarked the movie as "dazzling fun" and lauded the performances of Stone and Thompson, of which he described the rivalry of the performances as "hard to resist on-screen", and hailed Beavan's costume design on the film as one of her best works since Mad Max: Fury Road, while drawing parallels of the film's moral ambiguities and Stone's portrayal of the titular character to her previous performance as Abigail Hill in The Favourite.

Alonso Duralde of TheWrap wrote: Placing these characters in the '60s and '70s allows director Craig Gillespie and screenwriters Dana Fox and Tony McNamara to place the characters into an exciting moment of fashion history ... Costumer Jenny Beavan, art director Martin Foley, and production designer Fiona Crombie, and their respective departments, all seem to be enjoying and making the most of the film's period demands.

Sequel

In May 2021, both Stone and Thompson stated that they would like to do a second Cruella film as both a sequel and prequel in the style of The Godfather Part II. In June 2021, Disney announced that a sequel was officially in the early stages of development, with Gillespie and McNamara expected to return as director and writer, respectively. In August 2021, Stone closed a deal to reprise her role in the sequel.