The live-action take of Aladdin made over $1 billion at the box office because Disney just can’t lose. At this point they can release a film of Warner Herzog reading the phone book and it would likely make half-a-billion.
For some reason it seems that people can’t imagine Disney making sequels to any of these blockbuster live-action adaptations. Perhaps it’s because so many of the mid-90s direct-to-video sequels were subpar to say the least? Perhaps it’s because people see the novelty of these adaptations, more of homages to the source material than an actual films? I’m not sure why but it just seems that people always assume the live-action versions of these movies are just one-and-done.
Nope! In fact, the latest rumor says that Disney is thinking of doing an Aladdin 2. The news comes from producer Dan Lin, who told this to comicbook.com:
“We certainly when we first made the movie wanted to just make the best movie we could and let audiences tell us if they wanted to see more. And I would say resoundingly audiences want to see more. They’ve watched this movie multiple times. We have lots of fan letters about people who really go back and they bring their friends and bring their family. And so we feel like there’s more story to tell. We are going to treat it the same way we treat the original Aladdin movie and not going to do a shot by shot remake of anything that’s been done before. We’re really looking at what’s been done before in the past and the home video, and there’s just more story to tell with the underlying materials. So without giving away too much, we are certainly exploring where we can go with this franchise.”
Wait, did people really send in fan letters about the live-action adaptation of Aladdin? I don’t want to minimize anyone’s enjoyment of a film but this is the movie that drives you to write in?
Lin is right though, people really enjoyed the film. It made a bunch of money, received mediocre reviews from critics but was fairly well-received by moviegoers. So it makes sense that Disney would be interested in making a sequel. This shouldn’t be a surprise. This is how Hollywood works, right? This one is kind of a no brainer. Now, it’s not a movie I’m dying to see but, hey, I can’t knock Disney for making more.
So, yes, Disney is contemplating an Aladdin sequel and that isn’t shocking. In fact, I’m starting to think it shouldn’t even be news. I think this article should end now. I’m sorry for wasting your time!
