Mena Massoud on Aladdin Sequel and Star Wars Rumours

 

It feels like forever since it was officially announced that Disney's live action Aladdin was getting a sequel. So what's been happening over at the House of Mouse?

According to the film's star, Mena Massoud, not much. In a new interview with Screen Rant, Mena offered the following update:

"They're working on it. They're trying to make it happen. That's really all I know. As you know, usually actors are the last piece of the puzzle, so the studio has got a lot to worry about before they start thinking about the actors."

So the film is officially still in the writing phase. That doesn't mean nothing has happened. Last February it was confirmed that a story direction had been settled on and a year and a half is plenty of time for a script to be written, revised, etc. So hopefully writers John Gatins and Andrea Berloff have been hard at work getting the story into the best possible shape so that Mena and the rest of the cast hear something soon!

For his part, Mena is certainly hoping to return to the role of Disney's famous street rat:

"Obviously, I would hope that all of us come back and Naomi, Will, and I all come back and the rest of the cast, Marwan, Navid, Nasim, everybody. But right now, as far as I know, they're just working on the script and trying to make it happen."

He also addressed those Star Wars rumours. Will he be playing Ezra Bridger in the upcoming Mandalorian spin-off Ahsoka? Mena was a little less forthcoming here.

"Yeah. Just manifesting, just manifesting, trying different things. Yeah, there's not much more I can say about that, but, you know, I had heard murmurings that this role was coming up and this is becoming a real thing. So I just kinda wanted to throw my name in the ring and  - yeah, just part of manifesting what you want. I think we live in an age now that's so different than '70s, '80s, 90s, Hollywood, where there was no social media. It was really just your representatives, putting things out there for you. But now, we have the ability to to put things out there for ourselves because of social media and because we can put things out there. So yeah, I just wanted to put it out there, I guess."

So does he want to join that galaxy far, far, away? And bring my two favourite franchises crashing together in the process!

"It would be a dream come true. Obviously, I've already had one of my dreams come true with Aladdin. I think I have that under my belt now and thankfully the film did really well, so I think I've proven that I can be successful in that environment. I think it would just be a great opportunity to take everything that I learned on a set like Aladdin and implement it into the Star Wars or DC or Marvel universe. We're talking about manifesting, so yeah, it would be a lot, it would mean a lot. I think I would also do a solid job and work really hard. I like what they're doing with that world and how they're expanding the universe."

Hopefully everything works out and we get to see Mena in both Aladdin 2 and Star Wars soon!

Live Action Aladdin Sequel Officially Moving Forwards

Wish granted!

Now this is the movie news I've been waiting for. First reported by Variety, Disney are officially moving forward with a sequel to the live action Aladdin. Once the first film hit a billion dollars (and incredibly had a longer cinema run than Avengers: Endgame!) this pretty much became inevitable but it's nice to have it officially confirmed at last.

According to The Hollywood Reporter Disney set up a writers room over the summer to generate ideas for the sequel. That's right, this will be an original tale and not an adaptation of The Return of Jafar or Aladdin and the King of Thieves. It's currently not known what the story will be, but it is known that during the writers room Disney and producers Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich (returning from the last film) were looking at other stories from One Thousand and One Nights as inspiration. Now that they have settle on a story direction, John Gatins (Flight, Real Steel) and Andrea Berloff (Straight Outta Compton, The Kitchen) have been hired to pen the script for the sequel.

The Hollywood Reporter says that Guy Ritchie is set to return as director and the principal cast of Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, and Will Smith are all expected to return. Variety is a little more cautious, saying it's "unknown at this time" whether or not Ritchie will return to the director's chair and noting that, whilst the leads are hoped to return, "offers won't be extended to the cast until a script is ready." Producer Dan Lin did note over the summer that Ritchie returning would be their first choice so lets hope all the stars align and they're able to get the gang back together for the sequel.

The film will be a theatrical release (rather than straight to Disney+) but no mention is made on whether or not this will be a musical. I can't imagine it not being, and the prospect of a new Alan Menken score and several new songs (likely to written with Benj Pasek and Justin Paul who wrote the lyrics for Speechless and the deleted song Desert Moon) fills me with more joy than I can put into words, but I must admit I'll be a little bit nervous until it's officially confirmed.

No release date has been set (best guess would be filming next year for a 2022 release) but for now I'm just happy to know that the film is officially moving forwards. Let's make some magic!!