Filming On Disney's Live-Action ALADDIN to Get Underway This August!

In a new interview with Billboard, award-winning composer and Disney mainstay Alan Menken discusses his upcoming projects for the House of Mouse, including live-action remakes of the classics THE LITTLE MERMAID and ALADDIN.

Asked to share details on what movie fans can expect from the ALADDIN reboot, Menken reveals, "It's a very fluid process. Guy Ritchie is directing and he's never directed a musical before so it's going to be a lot of attempts to reinvent the wheel. Where it's re-inventable, we will do it and where it's not, we will discover that together. But it has to be a very fast discovery process because at this point shooting is supposed to start in August."

He goes on to explain why production on ALADDIN will now get underway ahead of the 'MERMAID' project, due to scheduling conflicts. Explains Menken, "First there was a live-action Little Mermaid, but both the producer and my collaborator on that, Lin-Manuel Miranda, are working on Mary Poppins in London, so Aladdin has now jumped ahead of it and that's what I'm in the thick of now."

Guy Ritchie will helm the live-action re-imagining of Disney's Aladdin. The project marks the latest in a string of upcoming live-action reboots of Disney classics, including BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, in theaters March 17th, MARY POPPINS RETURNS, out Christmas Day, 2018, MULAN and THE LION KING. In recent years, the studio has produced live-action incarnations of MALEFICENT, CINDERELLA and THE JUNGLE BOOK. The latter delivered over $900 million at the worldwide box office.

The 1992 animated musical fantasy film Aladdin was the 31st Disney animated feature film, and was part of the Disney film era known as the Disney Renaissance. The film was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, and is based on the Arab-style folktale Aladdin and the Magic Lamp from One Thousand and One Nights. THE VOICE cast featured Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, Linda Larkin,Jonathan Freeman, Frank Welker, Gilbert Gottfried, and Douglas Seale.

The musical score was written by Alan Menken and features six songs with lyrics written by both Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, who took over after Ashman's death. Aladdin was released on November 25, 1992 and was the most successful film of 1992, earning over $217 million in revenue in the United States, and over $504 million worldwide. The film also won many awards, most of them for its soundtrack. The film is considered by many as the best film that came out during the Disney Renaissance. Aladdin's success led to other material inspired by the film, including two direct-to-video sequels, The Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves, an animated television series of the same name.

In 2014, a musical stage adaptation of the film premiered on Broadway. James Monroe Iglehart won a 2014 Tony Award for his performance as Genie.

Watch the official trailer for 1992's Aladdin below:

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos