It seems that Disney are really keen to replicate the massive success of Maleficent and Cinderella. Adding to the recent news that that the studio is planning a live-action Prince Charming movie, we’re now hearing that an Aladdin prequel is also in the works.
THR reports that the studio is developing Genies, a live-action prequel to the hit 1992 animated film focusing on – that’s right, you guessed it – how the Genie got into the bottle in the first place. Of course, the Genie from the original Aladdin was wonderfully voiced and brought to life by the late-great Robin Williams’ unbeaten performance.
The comedy adventure script for Genies is being written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift – who cut their teeth on horrors like Freddy vs. Jason and Friday the 13th reboot but recently wrote scripts for a new Baywatch movie and Peter Dinklage vehicle O’Lucky Day – and is said to focus on the realm of the Genies.
Even though the built-in fandom for the original Aladdin is there and will undoubtedly help the success of this, it does seem odd they’re going live-action with it. Then again, with the advancements in CGI in the last couple of decades could mean it looks very cool. Also, even though it’s still early days, word is that things are going to lead-up to a live-action Aladdin movie.
Both this and Prince Charming are just one in a line of revisionist projects Disney has planned – they’ve also announced a live-action Tinkerbell movie set to star Reese Witherspoon, as well as an expanded Night on Bald Mountain movie.
Do you like the sound of Genies?
Source: THR