[1][a] The film stars Will Smith, Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott with Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban, Nasim Pedrad, and Billy Magnussen in supporting roles.
The plot follows Aladdin, a street urchin, as he falls in love with Princess Jasmine, befriends a wish-granting genie, and battles the wicked sorcerer Jafar.
Smith was the first member of the cast to join, signing on to portray Genie in July 2017, and Massoud and Scott were confirmed for the two lead roles later that month.
Principal photography began that September at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England, also filming in the Wadi Rum Desert in Jordan, and lasted until January 2018.
In the fictional city of Agrabah (based on Baghdad), an orphaned street urchin named Aladdin and his monkey, Abu, meet Princess Jasmine, who has snuck away from her sheltered life in the royal palace.
Jafar, the royal vizier, schemes to overthrow the Sultan and seeks a magic lamp from the Cave of Wonders, that only "the diamond in the rough" can retrieve.
Once rescued, Aladdin returns to the palace and destroys Jafar's magic cobra staff, ending his spell over the Sultan and revealing his plot.
Frank Welker reprises his roles as the vocal effects for Abu, Aladdin's kleptomaniac but loyal pet Tufted capuchin[15][16][17] and the voice of the Cave of Wonders, a sand guardian who guards the magic lamp from intruders and only gives it to someone who's worthy, "a diamond in the rough".
[18] On October 10, 2016, it was announced that Guy Ritchie would direct a live-action Aladdin film for Walt Disney Pictures, with John August writing the script and Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich attached as producers.
[19][20] On July 17, 2017, it was announced that Disney had hired Vanessa Taylor to polish the original screenplay by August, specifically some "character work" and what is called "script doctoring".
[26] A worldwide casting call for the lead roles of Aladdin and Princess Jasmine commenced in March 2017, with principal production set to take place in the UK from July 2017 until January 2018.
[36] On July 11, 2017, it was announced that principal production on Aladdin had been pushed back by a month, to August 2017, due to struggles in finding the right actor to portray the titular role.
Over 2,000 actors and actresses had auditioned for the roles of Aladdin and Jasmine, but finding a male lead of Middle Eastern or Indian descent in his 20s who could act and sing was seemingly difficult for the producers.
[30] Two musical film veterans, Marc Platt (who would serve as executive producer) and Chris Montan, were consulted before a final decision was made.
[30] At the 2017 D23 Expo, on July 15, it was announced that Massoud would star as Aladdin and Scott as Jasmine, ending the four-month long open casting call.
[31][37] Julie Ann Crommett, Disney's Vice President of Multicultural Engagement, said the decision to cast Scott—the daughter of an English father and a Gujarati Ugandan-Indian mother—as Jasmine, reflected the mixing or association of different cultures in the broad region that consists of the Middle East, South Asia, and China, all of which make up the Silk Road.
[50] The visual effects were provided by Industrial Light & Magic and supervised by Michael Mullholland, Daniele Bigi, and David Seager, with the help of Hybride Technologies, DNEG, Nzviage and Proof.
[51] In January 2018, it was reported that brown makeup was being applied to white extras during filming in order to "blend in", which caused an outcry and condemnation among fans and critics, branding the practice as "an insult to the whole industry" while accusing the producers of not recruiting people with Middle Eastern or North African heritage.
[54][55] But The Washington Post pointed out that Nasim Pedrad, an actress of Iranian-American descent, also was cast as a brand new character when she was awarded the role of Jasmine's friend Mara (later renamed Dalia).
[63] On February 10, 2019, Disney debuted a special sneak peek of the film during the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, which was met with largely negative feedback from audiences, primarily due to the quality of the CGI Genie in his blue design, created via motion capture effects.
[79] In the United States and Canada, Aladdin was released alongside Booksmart and Brightburn, and was projected to gross around $80 million from 4,476 theaters over its four-day opening weekend over Memorial Day.
[87][88][89][90] It was the third biggest opening of 2019 at the time (behind Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel),[91][92] and the fifth-highest Memorial Day launch ever, as well as the best debut of Ritchie's career and second best of Smith's.
The site's critical consensus reads, "Aladdin retells its classic source material's story with sufficient spectacle and skill, even if it never approaches the dazzling splendor of the animated original.
[87] Writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, praising Smith, Scott, and Massoud's performances and calling it a "shining, shimmering live-action update.
"[118] Variety's Peter Debruge summarized his review with, "Will Smith steps into Robin Williams's shoes, bringing fresh attitude to the role of the Genie in Guy Ritchie's high-risk, mostly rewarding live-action remake."
[146][147] In January 2023, it was revealed that Smith was still set to return as the Genie in spite of the incident where he slapped Chris Rock at the Academy Awards event in 2022.
[149] The subject would be brought up again on May 13, 2023, when Massoud responded to a Twitter post from The Hollywood Handle about the box office projections for Disney's live-action remake of The Little Mermaid (which also involved Marc Platt as a producer), by saying that it won't reach the $1 billion mark like Aladdin did, but that it "undoubtedly will get a sequel," explaining that "Our film was unique in that audiences went to watch it multiple times."
"[153] A year before deciding to remake Aladdin, Disney made an announcement in 2015 that it would make a live-action prequel to the aforementioned film above under the title Genies.
[citation needed] A spin-off film focused on Prince Anders was announced in December 2019 to be in development for Disney+ with Jordan Dunn and Michael Kvamme writing the script and Magnussen reprising his role.
[155] In April 2021, Magnussen stated that project was still in development and that writers Shane Andries and Chris Smith had been hired to do additional work on the script.