Aladdin Sequel Officially In Development At Disney

Disney’s live-action remakes are basically a license to print money for the studio, with both The Lion King and Aladdin doing gangbusters at the box office. True, the latter took a little longer to reach the coveted billion-dollar mark, but it still cemented itself as a massive financial success for the studio, even despite some fairly tepid reviews.

Of course, as any House of Mouse fan will know, the original 1992 version spawned two sequels in the form of The Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves, and with this recent remake performing so well, it always seemed likely that Disney would follow suit and push a follow-up into development sooner rather than later. In fact, We Got This Covered was actually the first outlet to tell you that Aladdin was getting a sequel last year, and tonight, Variety has confirmed our scoop, reporting that Aladdin 2 is now in development.

It’s still early days for the project, but the outlet says John Gatins and Andrea Berloff are on script duties, with the duo said to be coming up with an original idea for the pic. Originally, when we first heard of the sequel back in the summer, our sources had told us it would be inspired by Return of Jafar, but it seems that since then, Disney has changed gears and is now settling for something original. Which, quite honestly, is probably the better call.

Plot details are obviously non-existent at this stage, and it’s currently unclear if director Guy Ritchie will return. However, the producers are apparently hoping that Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott and Will Smith will all sign on, though no one’s confirmed just yet. And in fact, that last name may be a bit problematic.

After all, the 2019 movie ended with Aladdin wishing for Genie to become human, and Smith’s fan favorite was last seen sailing around the world alongside his family. So, how he might return remains unknown, but we’d certainly love to see him back.

In any case, with Aladdin 2 now entering active development, you can be sure that more will emerge soon. Watch this space.