Aladdin was one of Disney’s biggest films in 1992 grossing over $500 million at the box office, with Robin Williams voicing the Genie. Well, Disney is going to be working on something pretty great. We have seen their live-action adaptions of Cinderella and Maleficent. They are currently working on live-action Beauty & the Beast, Prince Charming, Winnie the Pooh, and Pinochio films among others. Well, Disney is adding some more live-action goodness to their slate after the news that they would be working on a live-action prequel to Aladdin titled, “Genies”.
The studio is developing Genies, a live-action comedy adventure that is being written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. Tripp Vinson is on board to produce via his Vinson Films banner. The new project would focus on the realm of the Genies and reveal how Aladdin’s Genie ended up enslaved in the lamp. Although Genies is only in the early stages of development, the long-term plan is to have the project lead into an Aladdin live-action movie.
So not only will this be a prequel focusing on how the Genie became THE Genie in the lamp, but it will also lead to another film in a live-action Aladdin film. I can see a live-action Aladdin film with the Genie and the carpet with some great action set-pieces. I am legit excited about seeing that come to life on screen. Having someone replace Robin Williams as the Genie may be a little bit of a hard pill to swallow for some but I think Disney can find a perfect casting choice. Robin Williams did a lot of improv with the voice over work so having a more focused actor playing the role may help, seeing as Genie would be the main character of the prequel.