Disney Plans Live-Action ‘Aladdin’ Prequel ‘Genies’
Disney will continue their recent spate of live-action reboots of classic animated films with Genies, a prequel to 1992’s Aladdin centered around one such magical lamp-dweller, Variety reports.
The script will be written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, the team behind Freddy Vs. Jason and the 2009 remake of Friday the 13th; the pair also wrote the upcoming comedy O’ Lucky Day, which will star Peter Dinklage. Tripp Vinson will produce the film through his production company Vinson Films, though Disney has yet to announce a director.
The late Robin Williams famously voiced the boisterous blue Genie in the original Aladdin. Disney, however, did not note whether Genies will focus on the same character or a different one. While the project sadly arrives after Williams’ death last year, the actor’s shoes could be suitably filled by James Iglehart, who won a Tony for his portrayal of Genie in the Broadway production of Aladdin.
Genies follows a handful of successful live-action remakes of seminal Disney films such as Cinderella, Maleficent (based on Sleeping Beauty) and Alice in Wonderland. As Variety reported in April, Disney also has a live-action version of Pinocchio in the works written by About a Boy scribe Peter Hedges. The entertainment giant is also developing reboots of Winnie the Pooh, Mulan and Dumbo.
Disney’s more immediate releases, however, include a version of The Jungle Book that will mix live-action and animation; the film was directed by Jon Favreau and stars Scarlett Johansson, Idris Elba, Bill Murray, Lupita Nyong’o and Christopher Walken. A new iteration of Beauty and the Beast with Emma Watson is scheduled to arrive in 2017.