After the first live-action “Aladdin” trailer looked terrible and quickly became the stuff of social media jokes, many just assumed that Disney was going to have a massive dud on its hands. But yet, the final film was released and was welcomed with open arms from film fans, earning more than $1 billion at the box office. Thus, Disney quickly announced that a sequel was in the works because that’s how Hollywood works nowadays.
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According to Variety, Disney has reportedly hired writers John Gatins and Andrea Berloff to write the script for the upcoming sequel. Interestingly, considering the first film was a worldwide blockbuster that grossed over $1 billion, there’s no word on whether or not director Guy Ritchie would return or if the cast would come back. Actors Will Smith, Mena Massoud, and Naomi Scott will reportedly get contracts offered to them after a script is complete.
The development of an “Aladdin” sequel hasn’t been as smooth as you’d expect from a Disney film. The studio has spent the better part of the last six months working on the direction the next film would go in. And finally, after deciding where to take the next film, a script is being worked on. So, we shouldn’t expect any movement on the sequel for a while still.
While we don’t know exactly the direction that the sequel will go in, it’s being reported that it’s a wholly original idea and won’t pull from the various animated “Aladdin” sequels that have been released over the years.
Again, the development of the “Aladdin” sequel is still pretty much in its infancy, with a script not even finished. Thus, a release date is still unconfirmed, but likely still at least a year and a half or more away.