The cast and crew of 2019’s Aladdin will be heading to a whole new world in a newly-confirmed sequel to the hugely successful live-action remake. The original film grossed over a billion dollars at the box-office and has already spurred the production of a spinoff series on Disney+, apparently starring Billy Magnussen’s character of the laughable Prince Anders.
A sequel wasn’t exactly an inevitability, despite the first film’s success, mostly because of how poorly Disney’s few sequels to its live-action remakes have been received in the past. Both Alice Through The Looking-Glass and Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil, despite riding on the coattails of box-office juggernauts, failed to connect with critics or audiences and left the futures of their respective franchises looking bleak.
But both those sequels were trying to create story where there was none left, whereas there are still plenty of treasures left to salvage in the Cave of Wonders. Even the original Aladdin led to the creation of not one but two animated sequels: The Return Of Jafar and The King Of Thieves. However, Variety reports that the screenwriting team for the 2019 Aladdin sequel are said to be diverging from anything that’s been done before, and will instead be working on an original script.
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Who Will Be Writing Aladdin 2?
The script for the Aladdin sequel will be written by John Gatins and Andrea Berloff, both of whom are Oscar nominees. Gatins wrote the scripts for Denzel Washington’s drama Flight, as well as Lionsgate’s Power Rangers, which happened to star Aladdin‘s Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott). Berloff is best known for writing Straight Outta Compton, and most recently The Kitchen. Disney settled on the two writers after an extensive, six-month search. It is believed that the sequel is being developed for a theatrical release, rather than as a Disney+ debut.
It is suspected that Aladdin stars Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott and Will Smith will be asked to return for the sequel, though Disney is apparently waiting to renew contracts with the actors until the script is finished. Assuming that Disney’s Prince Anders spinoff series is a success, we should also expect Billy Magnussen to reprise his role. There is no word yet as to whether Guy Ritchie will be back in the director’s chair.
What do you think of the news that a sequel is being written? Is there still potential left in this franchise, or have the Aladdin team used up all their wishes on the first film? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Variety
