Prepare your magic carpet for your return trip to Agrabah, as Disney has officially given the greenlight to Aladdin 2. Serving as a direct sequel to last year’s live-action Aladdin movie, the follow-up will be written by John Gatins (Flight) and Andrea Berloff (Straight Outta Compton) with original helmer Guy Ritchie back in the director’s chair. Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, and Will Smith are also all expected to reprise their respective roles as Aladdin, Jasmine, and Genie, though the actors have yet to formally sign on. Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich are also back on board to produce.
Last year, it had been reported that discussions for a potential sequel to Aladdin had begun taking place at Disney. According to a new report from The Hollywood Reporter, the company held a writers room about possible creative directions to take Aladdin 2. Reportedly, the studio and the producers were considering adapting more ideas from the Middle Eastern folk tale collection One Thousand and One Nights. In addition to spawning the original Aladdin story, “Aladdin’s Magic Lamp,” the collection also includes stories like “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” and “The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor.” However, it remains unclear exactly which of these ideas, if any, will be used for Aladdin 2.
The people at Disney have been remaking so many of their classic animated movies that it was just a matter of time before more and more sequels to some of them began rolling in. A direct remake of Disney’s 1992 animated movie of the same name, the new Aladdin was given the live-action treatment utilizing a similar story with most of the same characters playing similar roles. As with many other remakes, some fans of the original groaned when the new version of Aladdin hit theaters last year, but you can’t argue with results. Grossing $355 million in the United States, the movie pulled in a whopping $1.05 billion in global ticket sales, all but guaranteeing this now-confirmed follow-up.
Aladdin 2 is just the latest in a trend of live-action or hyper-realistic remakes of animated Disney movies. We’ve previously seen movies like The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast remade with the live-action treatment, and just last year, The Lion King premiered in theaters while a new Lady and the Tramp debuted on Disney+. Aside from Aladdin 2, many similar movies from Disney are also on the horizon, which includes updated versions of Lilo and Stitch, Bambi, and Peter Pan and Wendy.
At this time, it remains unclear when Aladdin 2 will potentially hit theaters, but it does appear that progress on the project is now moving along swiftly. We’ll see if the sequel manages to come close to the profits brought in by the original movie, if not surpassing them entirely, but if so, we may as well prepare to see a third installment of the live-action Aladdin series – just like the animated originals. This news comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter.
