Now that tickets are officially on sale for Disney’s live-action Aladdin, the film’s latest TV spot explains Genie’s strict rules about making wishes. The spot also highlights one of the film’s biggest musical numbers, with Will Smith’s recently awoken Genie singing the song “Friend Like Me.”
The live-action version of Disney’s Aladdin is one of many recent live-action Disney adaptations, following The Jungle Book, Dumbo, and this summer’s The Lion King. Like its animated predecessor, Aladdin follows the titular hero (played by Mena Massoud) as he embarks on a quest to retrieve a magic lamp. In doing so, he fails to bring the lamp to the evil Jafar ( Marwan Kenzari), but ends up on an unexpected journey with his pet monkey Abu, a flying carpet, and a magical genie. The film also stars Naomi Scott, Billy Magnussen, Alan Tudyk, Navid Negahban, and Will Smith, and was directed by Snatch and Sherlock Holmes director Guy Ritchie.
With Aladdin’s release date getting closer, tickets are officially on sale. What’s more is that ticket sales have lined up with a new TV spot for the film, highlighting one of Genie’s most memorable musical performances. In the spot, Genie walks Aladdin through his few - but strict- rules, namely that he “can’t make anybody love anybody or bring anybody back from the dead.” The spot also shows off some major visual spectacles from the film, including shots from three other musical numbers, “Prince Ali,” “A Whole New World,” and “One Jump Ahead.” Check out the TV spot below:
Along with tickets going sale and the new TV spot, Disney is also launching the #FriendLikeMe challenge in partnership with Make-A-Wish. The challenge asks participants to share on social media who they would grant three wishes to if they had Genie’s powers, including the hashtag #FriendLikeMe. For every post on either Twitter or Instagram, Disney will donate $5 (up to $1 million) to Make-A-Wish. Check out Disney’s announcement for the challenge with Will Smith below:
While early reactions to Aladdin haven’t been entirely positive, Will Smith certainly seems passionate about the project. Even though there have been jabs at the way this live-action of version of Genie looks, Smith is bringing some personal flair to the role made famous by the late Robin Williams. Whether it ultimately satisfies fans of the original remains to be seen, but Disney seems confident in their live-action adaptations, given how many they’re releasing in such close proximity of one another.
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Source: Disney, #FriendLikeMe
- Aladdin Release Date: 2019-05-24 The Lion King Release Date: 2019-07-19