In 1992, a young street rat whose luck changed when he unleashed a Genie from a magic lamp captured our hearts and had us singing along, while the late Robin Williams changed the way animated films were presented to both children and adults alike with his improv antics.
We were shown a whole new world of animation and storytelling, which was also turned into a successful live Broadway show more than a decade later. Now Disney may be set to out-do itself again with an Aladdin live-action prequel in the works.
The working title of the prequel, Genies, suggests that the movie may focus on the life of the blue Genie who granted Aladdin his three wishes and was set free from his "itty bitty living space." According to reports, the story will reveal how the blue Genie, voiced by Williams in the animated classic, ended up with all the powers of the universe but enslaved into his lamp in the first place.
Also, Genies will reportedly be penned by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift and is described as a comedy adventure. Still in the earliest stages of development, it is being pegged to be a live-action movie.
Other classic Disney animated films have also received the live action treatment, such as Alice in Wonderland, which told of Alice returning to a much darker Wonderland from the mind of Tim Burton after she grew up; Maleficent, a retelling of Sleeping Beauty told from the point of view of the evil fairy played by Angelina Jolie; and Cinderella, which was a more straightforward cartoon-to-live-action translation of the animated favorite.
The tale of Aladdin is based on a Middle Eastern folktale and the original 1992 Disney movie won numerous awards such as The Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Music Score by Alan Menken, the MTV Award for Best Comedic Performance by Robin Williams and a Golden Globe Special Achievement Award for Williams.
The Disney Broadway musical adaptation of the film, as well, was nominated for several theatre awards. James Monroe Iglehart, who played the Genie, won both the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.
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