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Disney's Live-Action Aladdin Finds Its Stars

Will Smith is confirmed to take on the role of the Genie, alongside a newly announced Aladdin and Jasmine.

Will Smith will play the Genie in Disney's live-action remake of Aladdin.
Will Smith will play the Genie in Disney's live-action remake of Aladdin.
(© Tristan Fuge)

The stars of Disney's upcoming live-action remake of Aladdin were announced on Saturday at the D23 Expo, a biannual event presented by the Official Disney Fan Club.

As previously rumored, Will Smith will take on the role of the Genie (originally voiced by Robin Williams), while Naomi Scott will star as Princess Jasmine alongside Mena Massoud who assumes the title role of Aladdin. Guy Ritchie will direct the film, with a screenplay by John August.

Scott is best known for playing Kimberly, the Pink Ranger, in the 2017 Power Rangers movie and costarring as Maddy Shannon in the science-fiction drama series Terra Nova. She joins Aladdin as a Disney veteran, having starred as Mohini "Mo" Banarjee in the Disney Channel original movie Lemonade Mouth and as Megan in Disney series Life Bites.

Massoud is an Egyptian-Canadian actor with several television credits to his name. He played Jared Malik in the American-Canadian mystery-drama series Open Heart and is slated to play Tarek Kassar in the upcoming Amazon series Jack Ryan.

Aladdin was originally released in 1992, featuring music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. The cast of voices included Scott Weinger (Aladdin), Robin Williams (Genie), Jonathan Freeman (Jafar), and Linda Larkin (Jasmine), with Tony winner Lea Salonga lending the singing voice of Jasmine.

The stage musical Aladdin opened at Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre on March 20, 2014, with Jonathan Freeman reprising his original performance as Jafar. The production earned five Tony nominations, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.