Get Your First Look At Will Smith And The Cast Of Aladdin

Disney is banking on ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ to top the box office this weekend, but they’re still  looking to the future.  In May of next year, Will Smith is hoping to enchant audiences with his depiction of the Genie in the latest live action remake of a classic Disney animated film, ‘Aladdin’.  This project is directed by Guy Ritchie (‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’) and also stars Mena Massoud (‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan’) as Aladdin, Naomi Scott (‘Power Rangers’) as Princess Jasmine, and Marwan Kenzari (‘Murder on the Orient Express’) as the villainous Jafar, as well as Numan Acar, Billy Magnussen, Navid Negahban, and Nasim Pedrad.

To prepare you for your trip to Agrabah, Disney has released a series of first-look photos from the film to Entertainment Weekly, which you can view below:

Despite these pictures, Will Smith has declared that his Genie will be blue in the finished movie.

‘Aladdin’ is one of three live action remakes due out next year from Disney.  On March 29, viewers can check out Tim Burton’s ‘Dumbo’, starring Eva Green, Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito.  (Hey, Keaton and DeVito previously starred in another Burton movie, ‘Batman Returns’!)  Then, on July 19, Disney delivers ‘The Lion King’, directed by ‘The Jungle Book”s Jon Favreau, featuring the voices of Beyoncé Knowles, Donald Glover, Eric André, Billy Eichner, Chiwetel Ejiofor, James Earl Jones (reprising the voice of Mufasa, which he originally provided in the 1994 animated version), John Kani, Florence Kasumba, Keegan-Michael Key, John Oliver, Seth Rogen, Amy Sedaris, and Alfre Woodard.

The original animated ‘Aladdin’ was released in 1992 and featured the voices of Jonathan Freeman, Gilbert Gottfried, Linda Larkin, Scott Weinger, Frank Welker, and perhaps most famously, Robin Williams as the Genie.  The song ‘A Whole New World’ won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year, for the pop version sung by  Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle.  Two direct to VHS sequels were released, ‘The Return of Jafar’ and ‘Aladdin and the King of Thieves’, as well as an animated TV series.  It has also been adapted into a Broadway stage musical.

‘Aladdin’ will magically appear in theaters on May 24, 2019.