It’s been almost one year since Will Smith stunned audiences by slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars. It seemed unclear where Will Smith’s career would go next as a result. Now a report claims that Will Smith will actually return to the Aladdin film franchise.
Fans will recall that Will Smith played the role of the Genie in Disney’s live-action Aladdin film from 2019. Now, according to The Sun, he’s attached to reprise his role in a sequel to the film. Though there will be one major difference.
According to their report, they claim that not only is he “set to return as Genie,” but they note that he’ll be “playing an even bigger part than he did in the first film.”
If true, that’s a major piece of news. It would be one thing if Will Smith were returning with a smaller amount of screen time. But this report claims that Will Smith will have an even bigger role than the previous live-action adaptation. Now that’s certainly a big step for the actor’s comeback.
They further noted that the upcoming film is currently in the process of being written. However, they have “hopes that filming could begin at the end of the year.” So perhaps we’ll have additional news by then. However, one insider did have the following to say about the project:
“This would be one of the first movies Will has shot since the Oscars slap and it is quite surprising, given that it will be for a kids’ film.
“He has done a lot of work on himself and the consensus is that it will all be very much in the past by the time the movie is released.
“The first film was a huge success so it would be silly not to make another, and it would be a real shame to have to re-cast Will over what happened.
“So Disney is keen to stand by him and bring him back into the fold.”
This is certainly a positive development for Will Smith’s career. Hopefully we’ll have a more concrete announcement soon. For now, it’s expected that the prior film’s leads, Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott, will also return to the new sequel. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for additional updates as we have them.