How the Descendants franchise became the biggest thing in Disney villainy

polygon.com:

One of the summer’s most anticipated movies stars Rita Ora in a bright red wig, singing about ruling the world. It reunites Brandy and Paolo Montalbán as Cinderella and Prince Charming. And it showcases a whole lot of tightly choreographed group dance sequences. Descendants: The Rise of Red is the newest movie in Disney Channel’s ridiculously popular Descendants franchise: For the past nine years, since 2015’s Descendants launched the series, the movies and their spin-offs have been the biggest thing to come out of Disney Channel.

Descendants was a smash hit, spawning two mainline sequel movies, a handful of TV specials; animated short films; many, many book tie-ins; and the requisite wide-ranging Disney merch line. Now the fourth movie continues the story, shifting the focus onto a new set of characters, since the original cast’s stories have completed.

Directed by Kenny Ortega (High School Musical), 2015’s Descendants movie laid out an enticing concept for fans of classic Disney villains: What if those villains’ kids went to high school alongside the children of Disney heroes?

In the Descendants franchise, the Disney heroes live peacefully, while their villainous counterparts have been sequestered to the ramshackle Isle of the Lost. Four villain kids — Maleficent’s daughter Mal (Dove Cameron), the Evil Queen’s daughter Evie (Sofia Carson), Jafar’s son Jay (Booboo Stewart), and Cruella de Vil’s son Carlos (the late Cameron Boyce) — finally get to attend boarding school with the good guys, after Belle and the Beast’s son Ben (Mitchell Hope) decides that maybe bad guys’ kids should get a chance. In the first movie, their parents want them to use this opportunity to take over the world. At first, they go along with the plan. But eventually the four villain kids realize that maybe being good isn’t all that bad.

Rise of Red continues the legacy the main trilogy established. It follows Chloe Charming (Malia Baker), the daughter of Cinderella and (now) King Charming,