Aladdin touches nothing but the lamp in the first teaser trailer for Disney’s new eponymous live-action film.
The Aladdin teaser, released Friday, does quite a bit of scene-setting in Agrabah to the tune of the 1992 animated film’s Arabian Nights and Friend Like Me before offering a glimpse of Aladdin, who is played by Mena Massoud of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.
Alas, there’s nary a whiff of Will Smith’s blue Genie or any of the other beloved characters despite Smith’s tease earlier this week. Instead, the trailer flies on the wings of the parrot Iago — or what appears to be him — through the arid desert before landing in front of the mysterious Cave of Wonders, filled with mountains of treasure and the sought-after magic lamp.
“Only one may enter here,” warns the tiger-mouthed cave, “one whose worth lies far within: The diamond in the rough.”
Spoiler alert: It’s Aladdin.
The film, reviving the Oscar-winning box office smash and the successful Broadway adaptation, will too tell the tale of the charming street rat, the courageous and self-determined Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott) and the Genie (Smith) who may be the key to their future, according to Disney.
Director Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes, Snatch) also co-wrote the film with John August and was tapped by the House of Mouse to bring his “flair for fast-paced, visceral action to the fictitious port city of Agrabah,” the studio said.
Aladdin hits theatres May 24, 2019. It also stars Marwan Kenzari as Jafar, Navid Negahban as the Sultan, Nasim Pedrad as Jasmine’s friend Dalia, Billy Magnussen as Prince Anders and Numan Acar as Jafar’s right-hand man. Here’s a glimpse of a few of them on the first day of filming last September.
