When Disney decided to remake the classic 1992 animated film Aladdin into live-action, it was up to writer-director Guy Ritchie to make that transition. In the end, the film was a success and ended up making over $1 billion, with a talented cast led by Mena Massoud and Will Smith.
Recently, Collider's own Steven Weintraub had the chance to sit down and talk to Ritchie about his upcoming film Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre. In discussing Richie's other projects, Weintraub asked Ritchie whether he would want to do a sequel. The director praised his time working for Disney and said that while it is currently a "wait and see" situation, he would happily go back to make a follow-up, saying:
I'd very much like to. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed that experience. It was a great experience. That whole Disney thing, as you can imagine, is such a professional outfit. Just from that perspective, it was so much fun. I would very much like to, we'll wait and see. We have been kicking some ideas around for some time now, but it'd be great to do, it would be great to go back there.
With the success of Aladdin and the positive experience Ritchie had on the project, it does make sense that he would be up for a return. The 2019 film made a total of $1.05 billion at the global box office and is still the highest-grossing film that Ritchie has ever directed up to this point, nearly doubling the runner-up, 2011's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows ($543.4 million).
Sequels to the Original Aladdin Film
While there was never a theatrical follow-up to the original animated film, there were two sequel films to Aladdin back in the 1990s. There was 1992's direct-to-video Aladdin: The Return of Jafar and 1996's Aladdin and the King of Thieves, which was also direct-to-video. There was also an animated TV series that ran for 3 season between 1994 to 1995. This means that there is at least a few different source materials that could be pulled from if a sequel were to be made. However, there could also be an entirely original story told in this hypothetical Aladdin 2. In the meantime, Ritchie will return to Disney to direct the upcoming live-action adaptation of Hercules. The next live-action film that Disney is releasing is The Little Mermaid starring Halle Bailey and directed by Rob Marshall.
Ritchie's next film, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, arrives in theaters on March 3. You can check out the interview between Weintraub and the writer-director below which also includes an update on Sherlock Holmes 3.
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