Disney have not one, not two but three live-action remakes of their classic animated films arriving in 2019. Namely, March’s Dumbo, May’s Aladdin and July’s The Lion King. All of them are amongst the House of Mouse’s most acclaimed properties and as such, fans are hoping that these new takes won’t miss what made the originals so special.
When it comes to Aladdin in particular, Disney’s been keeping things pretty secretive, with only a brief teaser trailer and poster having been released so far. And while we were happy to get our first look at the film, neither of those pieces of promotional material revealed very much at all.
So, we’re pleased to tell you that the studio’s finally ready to show us a little bit more and thanks to Entertainment Weekly, we’ve now got our first look at Will Smith’s Genie, Naomi Scott’s Jasmine and a much better glimpse of Aladdin himself, played by Mena Massoud. Not only that, but the video embedded up above takes us even deeper into the film, offering a peak behind the scenes and some soundbites from the cast.
“Whenever you’re doing things that are iconic, it’s always terrifying,” Smith told EW about the role. “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.”
Said to be a reimagining of the 1992 classic, director Guy Ritchie and his team have vowed to deliver a modern-day yarn with Aladdin which is both nuanced and faithful to the original. And given how beloved that film is, Disney’s going to have to really hit it out of the park with this one in order to please fans, but none of their live-action remakes have disappointed so far and there’s no reason to think this one will, either.
In fact, Smith is pretty sure that they’ve crafted something special and unique, telling EW:
“I think it’ll stand out as unique even in the Disney world. There hasn’t been a lot of that hip-hop flavor in Disney history.”
We’ll get to see for ourselves if he’s right when Aladdin shows viewers a whole new world on May 24th.