Disney recently showed off a bunch of their upcoming films to attendees of the CinemaCon event, like their ultra-realistic adaptation of
The Lion King as well as next month's highly-anticipated remake:
Aladdin.
It would seem that the
Aladdin footage Disney brought to CinemaCon has already partially been made available online through the live-action remake's most recent trailer. Though you may remember the back half of the latest trailer blasting "A Whole New World," near the beginning we also got a glimpse of Will Smith's take on "Friend Like Me."
It's this iconic musical number which attendees of the convention were recently made privy to. Thankfully,
Comicbook.com were in attendance and able to get put out a lengthy description of exactly what went down. You can get an actual look at some of the description in action by skipping to the 0:40 mark in the trailer below.
A clip from Aladdin plays. In it, the oil lamp in the cave is shown as the request for it to be retrieved is narrating. Abu wants to touch treasures but Aladdin reminds him they are not to touch anything here. Aladdin climbs up the rock to find the lamp. Abu instinctively catches a falling gem. The entire cave starts to collapse and the Magic Carpet catches theme.
Aladdin rubs the lamp and slowly the Genie emerges like a blue tornado. “Oh, great one who summons me, terrible one who commands me, I stand by my oath loyalty to wishes three!” he says in a deep voice. He is just kidding though.
He makes the monkey play the jumos and bursts out in song. It turns into a dance number where Genie transforms, grows, shrinks, and goes in and out of the lamp. He sends Aladdin to imaginary locations like amazing dinners, he multiplies himself, and sings “You ain’t never had a friend like me!”
It’s a colorful, extravagant music video of sorts. Aladdin ends up dancing on puppet strings manipulated by the Genie, then Genie does some circus tricks, dance moves, and sends the Magic Carpet in circles before breaking into a beatbox. He zips around, puts them both on a couch, appears again behind them five times over and adds background tone to the song.
He explains himself and introduces himself through the song. They burst into a secret handshake of sorts before becoming synchronized in their dance moves. As the camera pulls out, fireworks, giraffes, elephants, and all sorts of extravagant colors and animals are in the cave.
Cut to the village, Jasmine and Aladdin are developing their relationship, dancing, he asks her to trust him and get on the Magic Carpet. Chases ensues, action flashes by, and it’s all very colorful.
“Aladdin” is the exciting tale of the charming street rat Aladdin, the courageous and self-determined Princess Jasmine and the Genie who may be the key to their future. Directed by Guy Ritchie, who brings his singular flair for fast-paced, visceral action to the fictitious port city of Agrabah, the film is written by John August and Ritchie based on Disney’s “Aladdin.”
Aladdin is set to arrive in theatres on May 24th, 2019.