‘Aladdin’ Remake Will Almost Certainly Be A Musical, Confirms Guy Ritchie

Aladdin is widely regarded as one of the most popular Disney films ever made, which means that there’s a lot of pressure on Guy Ritchie to make sure that his impending remake can at least rival the lauded 1992 animated musical. To do that, Guy Ritchie might have been tempted to go in a completely new direction with Aladdin in an attempt to truly make it his own.

And while there’s still a very good chance that Guy Ritchie might still actually do that, he’s also very much adamant that Aladdin will be a musical. Well, he’s pretty sure it’s going to be a musical. That’s because during a recent interview he admitted that he thought it would be “tough not to make it a musical,” but also admitted that he’s still in the early stages of development with the film so didn’t completely confirm the news.

“I think it’d be tough not to make it a musical. It’s too early, because I’ve really just immersed myself into that project. So, I’m still looking for cast members, we still haven’t found exactly which direction we are going in. I’m confident at some stage, it will reveal itself to me.”

Guy Ritchie made this admission to Nerdist while out discussing his latest film King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword, which is his take on the Arthurian legend, but still very much in the mould of the likes of his previous films Lock, Stock, And Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Rocknrolla, and Sherlock Holmes.

The fact that Guy Ritchie has made his name in the crime and gangster genres, while also primarily overseeing films for more mature viewers and audiences in the early stages of his career, too, meant that it was quite the shock when the English director was confirmed as the director for Aladdin. However, the filmmaker has also been quick to point out exactly why he decided to take on the job, explaining that he’s become an expert of kids movies over the years because he has had five children of his own. Guy Ritchie even insisted that he knows more about Disney than other genre or “brand” of film.

“I have five kids. I know more about kids movies than I do about any other movies and in turn, I know more about Disney movies than any other brand of movies. So, it’s a wheelhouse in which I’m well familiar. And I’m impressed with the quality of children’s product.”

As well as Guy Ritchie’s above comments to Variety, Sean Bailey, who is the president of production over at Walt Disney Pictures, previously provided further light on how Ritchie became involved in Aladdin to Vulture.

And from all accounts the director was the one who pursued Disney, as he registered his interest in delving into the kid’s genre, and then noticed that there was quite a few similarities between Aladdin and his previous work.

“Guy became interested in doing a Disney movie and we talked a lot about it. When we talked about Aladdin, he said, ‘My stories are really about street hustlers. That’s what I know how to do. And Aladdin is a classic street hustler who makes good.’ Guy’s got his own version of that story in his life. But he wanted to honor and respect the Disney of it all. We never want to feel like we have a playbook to these things because we worry it’ll make us creatively complacent. The idea of a highly energized Guy Ritchie Disney musical felt like, Oh, we haven’t done that before.”

After the triumphant success of Disney’s live-action remakes of Alice In Wonderland, Maleficent, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, and, most recently, Beauty And The Beast, which grossed $1.186 billion at the box office when it was released earlier this year, it’s little surprise that Disney are looking to bring a similar version of Aladdin to the big-screen. In fact, they’re also working on live-action remakes of Mulan, and The Lion King, too, which will finally be with us in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

[Featured Image by Disney]