Disney's New Aladdin Trailer Gives Will Smith's Genie More Time To Shine
A whole new Will.
The first full trailer for Aladdin is here. The movie is one of three live-action adaptations of classic animated Disney movies due in 2019 and it's set to hit theaters in May. While a short teaser was screened during the Super Bowl in January, this is the first proper look we've had at the movie.
The new trailer lays out the plot, which will be familiar to anyone who has seen the 1992 original. A street boy named Aladdin (Mena Massoud) discovers a magical lamp, which conjures a singing, dancing, wise-cracking genie (Will Smith). The genie grants him three wishes, with which he sets about wooing Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott) and avoiding the evil Jafar (Marwan Kenzari). It's packed with action, romance, and classic Aladdin songs--check it out above and then head to our Aladdin trailer comparison to see how this footage looks alongside the comparable shots from the original.
The movie is directed by Sherlock Holmes's Guy Ritchie and releases on May 24. When the first trailer screened in January, the response to Smith's muscular all-blue genie definitely caused a mixed reaction. However, this new trailer suggests that it might be kept a minimum, with Smith appearing in many scenes in a more 'human' guise.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Smith talked about taking on the role of the Genie, which was famously played by Robin Williams in the classic 1992 animated movie. "Whenever you're doing things that are iconic, it's always terrifying," he said. "The question is always: Where was there meat left on the bone? Robin didn't leave a lot of meat on the bone with the character.
"[But] I started to feel confident that I could deliver something that was an homage to Robin Williams but was musically different. Just the flavor of the character would be different enough and unique enough that it would be in a different lane, versus trying to compete."
Aladdin is just one of several classic fairy tale remakes that Disney has on the way. Tim Burton's reimagining of Dumbo hits theaters later this month, while a new version of The Lion King arrives in July. Beyond that, the remake of Mulan is scheduled for 2020, plus movies based on Cruella De Ville (101 Dalmations) and Tinker Bell (Peter Pan) are reportedly also in development.
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