‘Aladdin’ Sequel In The Works At Disney, Guy Ritchie Set To Direct

Disney is granting more wishes! According to Variety, a follow-up to the studio’s live-action reboot of the 1992 animated classic Aladdin is in the works.

The film is still in early development. But, it seems that Disney has found which way to go with the sequel. After six months of deliberation, the Mouse House has tapped Andrea Berloff (The Kitchen) and John Gatins (Flight) to pen the script. However, the return of Mena Massoud, Will Smith, and Naomi Scott are still up in the air. Producers are reportedly waiting for the script before offers are going to be made.

Jonathan Elrich and Dan Lin, who produced the original are also back to produce through their Rideback Banner. Ryan Halprin will be executive producing. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Guy Ritchie is also back to direct the sequel.

Aladdin 2 will be a theatrical release and not under Disney plus. Many would think that making a sequel would be easy given that the animated Aladdin was given two straight-to-home videos. But, the sequel will reportedly feature a new take on the original. THR reports that at one point, the studio was looking into other stories from One Thousand and One Nights. This is the collection of Middle Eastern stories where tales like Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, The Three Apples, and Sinbad the Sailor came from. There were also reports that Disney would be doing a spin-off for Billy Magnussen’s character Prince Anders. However, it was met with much backlash once reports came out that Massoud hasn’t had a single audition since the film.

Alladin was a massive hit earning $355 million domestically and a total of $1 billion worldwide. This makes it the fourth live-action adaptation to cross the billion-dollar mark. And it’s one of the three Disney movies that has crossed the milestone in 2019. The other films include Frozen II and Lion King. 

Gatins earned an Oscar nomination for his work on the drama Flight starring Denzel Washington. His most recent works include the screenplay for Power Rangers and the story for Kong: Skull Island. Berloff’s credits, on the other hand, include Sleepless, The Kitchen, and Straight Outta Compton. She has also recently worked on The Legend of Conan.