This new movie is based on on the old fairy tale which in English is usually known as the Sleeping Beauty. There are versions of it in several languages such as the German story of 'Briar Rose' and the French version of the Beauty Asleep in the Wood. The usual story is that a king and queen invite the fairies to the christening of their baby daughter and they all give her gifts, such as beauty, kindness and so on. However, they forget to invite one fairy (Maleficent in some versions) and she is so angry that she condemns the princess to cut herself on a spindle at the age of 15 and die. Another fairy manages to change this so the princess sleeps for 100 years and will then be woken by a handsome prince.
The new film stars Angelina Jolie as the evil fairy, who is more the centre of the story in this version. It looks like being a big hit so far.