If A Live-Action ‘Aladdin’ Sequel Happens It Won’t Be Adapting The Animated Sequels

Disney’s live-action adaptation of Aladdin, proved to be a box office smash for the studio, grossing over $1 billion at the global box office, and received positive reviews for the most part. So it came as no surprise a couple of weeks back when producer Dan Lin teased that a sequel was in early development. After Lin’s tease, the internet went ablaze hoping that the film would adapt the straight to video sequels The Return of Jafar or Aladdin and the King of Thieves, despite the live-action versions vastly different ending than the animated film. However, while speaking with ScreenRant, Lin shared the film will not adapt the sequels, but will instead be an original story, with some influences to the sequels.

It’s still early days. We never designed the movie to tell the Return of Jafar story, frankly. We were focused on telling the best movie possible. Now, we’re studying Jafar and the Thieves movie that came out, as well. We’re looking at that, but it’s still early days. We’re talking about different storylines. What we’re talking about is not going to be a direct remake of any sequel that’s come out, the same way that our movie was not a direct remake of the first movie. We studied the original movie and saw what worked and what things we wanted to update, and if we’re lucky enough to make another movie, we will do that as well. But it’s not going to be a remake of any specific DVD sequel. It’ll be a new story.

It will be interesting to see if Disney decides to officially move forward on an Aladdin sequel. 2016’s Alice In Wonderland sequel Through The Looking Glass was a huge disappoint amongst fans and critics, and made over $700 million less than the first film. However, all eyes are on Maleficent: Mistress of Evil to be the studios first live-action sequel in the remake/re-imagining era to be a box office success. That said, Aladdin has a large world and many stories they could explore. Directed by Guy Ritchie, Aladdin is the exciting tale of the charming street rat Aladdin, the courageous and self-determined Princess Jasmine and the Genie who may be the key to their future. Directed by Guy Ritchie, who brings his singular flair for fast-paced, visceral action to the fictitious port city of Agrabah, the film is written by John August and Ritchie based on Disney’s animated classic “Aladdin.” Aladdin stars Mena Massoud (Jack Ryan) as Aladdin, Naomi Scott (Power Rangers) as Jasmine, Will Smith (Bad Boys) as the iconic Genie, Marwan Kenzari (The Mummy 2017) as the villainous Jafar, Numan Acar (Prison Break) as Head of the guards Akim, Navid Negahban (Homeland) as The Sultan, Nasim Pedrad (SNL) as Dalia, Billy Magnussen (Into The Woods) as Prince Anders, and Alan Tudyk (Ralph Breaks The Internet) as the voice of Iago. Source: ScreenRant