With the first teaser for Guy Ritchie’s Aladdin remake proving to be even more teaser-y than expected, next year’s release has felt shrouded in secrecy for these last couple of months, but thanks to Entertainment Weekly’s latest coverage, we now have a much better idea of how the magical world of the cherished 1992 animation will look in live-action form.
As well as giving us our first look at Will Smith’s Genie, the recently shared material shows off the new Abu, and it must be said that he’s looking petty impressive, with the monkey’s detailed design serving as yet more evidence that Disney has the technological clout to convincingly bring CGI animals to the big screen. Elsewhere, we see Marwan Kenzari as Jafar, who’s looking very regal while he presumably enacts his latest evil plan.
On top of that, we have images of Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine, Nasim Pedrad as her loyal handmaiden Dalia, and of course, Mena Massoud as Aladdin, but perhaps the real star here is the production design, with each of these photos boasting lavish detail in the sets and costumes. All in all, it’s looking every bit as over-the-top as a fairy tale should be, and it’s strange to think that these stills were taken in London.
Whether or not you approve of Disney’s practice of remaking all their most fondly remembered animations, it’s clear that there’s a huge audience out there for these films, and so the studio is going hard next year with the strategy. Ritchie’s feature serves as one of three such movies that are dropping in these next few months, with Dumbo first arriving on March 29th, 2019, followed by Aladdin on May 24th, before The Lion King attempts to live up to the hype on July 19th.
