You knew it was only a matter of time before Disney announced a sequel to Aladdin.
Last year’s live-action remake of the 1992 animated classic earned over $1 billion at the worldwide box-office. It would have been foolish for Disney to not eventually greenlight a sequel.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, John Gatins (Flight, Real Steel) and Andrea Berloff (Straight Outta Compton, The Kitchen) have been hired to pen the sequel. Aladdin director Guy Ritchie is set to return as well. Will Smith, Mena Massoud, and Naomi Scott are expected to reprise their roles as Genie, Aladdin, and Jasmine, too.
However, don’t expect a remake of the animated sequel The Return of Jafar. Instead, THR states the sequel will be an entirely new story inspired by One Thousand and One Nights.
The one question that is on my mind is where Aladdin 2 will take the story next. Aladdin ended with Aladdin and Jasmine living happily ever after and the Genie becoming a human. There are going to have to be some serious retcons in the sequel, because I need my Genie as a genie.
I actually enjoyed the Aladdin remake. I thought it nicely avoided being a straight forward rehash of the animated film by throwing in some new elements and restructing the line of events. Massoud is a great Aladdin (seriously, this guy needs to be in more films), and I’m looking forward to seeing him back.
It looks like last year’s Aladdin really was the start of a whole new world franchise.
Do you think an Aladdin sequel is necessary? How long before The Lion King 2 is announced?
