50 Fun Facts About Aladdin (2019)

Which star, a rapper before he was an actor, plays the Genie in Disney's 2019 live-action Aladdin?

Will Smith was the first actor cast, signing on in July 2017, and the film went on to become the biggest worldwide hit of his career.

Which new solo, sung in two parts across the film, did Disney's 2019 Aladdin write for Jasmine?

Speechless was shortlisted for the Best Original Song Oscar but missed the final nominations. Jasmine sings it timidly early on, then in full when Jafar seizes power.

Which British director of Snatch and Sherlock Holmes took charge of Disney's 2019 live-action Aladdin?

Guy Ritchie also co-wrote the script, and the film gave him the best opening weekend and the biggest worldwide gross of his career.

Which new character in Disney's 2019 Aladdin, Jasmine's handmaiden, ends up marrying the Genie?

Dalia was created for the remake, and she and the freed Genie finish the film raising two children while exploring the world.

Which former One Direction member sang the end-credits A Whole New World for 2019's Aladdin with Zhavia Ward?

Zayn Malik's duet came out as a single about two weeks before the film reached US cinemas, and it won Choice Song From a Movie at the 2019 Teen Choice Awards.

How did Disney's 2019 Aladdin put its star on screen as the giant blue Genie that emerges from the lamp?

Motion-capture CGI created the blue Genie, while the actor appears in the flesh whenever the Genie disguises himself as a human.

Made for $183 million, Disney's 2019 Aladdin went on to gross roughly how much at cinemas worldwide?

$1 billion was passed on July 26, 2019, two months after release, making Aladdin the 41st film ever to reach that mark.

Whose 1992 voice performance as the Genie did the star of Disney's 2019 Aladdin say he was honouring?

Robin Williams cast such a long shadow that the new Genie admitted he was terrified of the role before finding his own take on it.

Which title does Jasmine inherit from her father at the end of 2019's Aladdin, ending her need to marry a royal suitor?

Sultan is the job Jasmine wants from the opening scenes of the remake, and her father finally crowns her in the closing ones.

In Disney's 2019 Aladdin, which object does Aladdin destroy to break Jafar's spell over Jasmine's father?

A cobra staff gives Jafar his hold over the palace, and once it is smashed his plot is exposed and he is thrown in a cell.

Which relative newcomer won the title role in Disney's 2019 Aladdin after a four-month worldwide casting call?

Mena Massoud emerged from a search that saw over 2,000 actors try out for the two leads, and filming slipped a month while the studio hunted for its Aladdin.

The title-role actor in Disney's 2019 Aladdin was born in which country before his family moved to Canada?

Egypt was home only until he was three, when his Coptic Christian family left Cairo for Canada in search of a better life.

Which British actress, a star of 2017's Power Rangers, plays Princess Jasmine in Disney's 2019 Aladdin?

Naomi Scott could not be confirmed until she had done a chemistry test with the actor chosen as Aladdin, because she and one rival were the final two for the part.

Which Dutch actor, later seen in The Old Guard and Black Adam, plays the scheming Jafar in 2019's Aladdin?

Marwan Kenzari's Jafar is given a backstory in the remake, which a producer said helps the audience understand why the villain is so bad.

Which actor, also the droid K-2SO in Rogue One, voices the parrot Iago in Disney's 2019 Aladdin?

Alan Tudyk voices an Iago portrayed as a more realistic parrot, and his casting was announced only two months before the film opened.

Which comedian, the voice of Iago since 1992, said he was never asked back for Disney's 2019 Aladdin?

Gilbert Gottfried voiced Jafar's parrot in the 1992 film, its sequels and the TV series, but the remake recast the bird as a more realistic parrot with a new voice.

Which voice of Scooby-Doo's Fred Jones was the only 1992 cast member to return for Disney's 2019 Aladdin?

Frank Welker again supplied the chatter of Aladdin's monkey and the roar of the Cave of Wonders, though only the cave earned him a screen credit.

Disney announced a Disney+ spin-off about which new suitor from Skånland introduced in its 2019 Aladdin?

Prince Anders takes the place of the 1992 film's Prince Achmed, and his solo project was announced just seven months after the remake opened.

What is the name of Princess Jasmine's loyal pet Bengal tiger in Disney's 2019 live-action Aladdin?

Rajah's growls come from the same veteran voice artist who performed the big cat in the 1992 animated film.

Which composer of the 1992 film's songs returned to score Disney's 2019 Aladdin and co-write its new music?

Alan Menken said his new score is pulled almost entirely from the themes of the songs, but sounds far more live-action in its textures and tone.

Lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who wrote new songs for 2019's Aladdin, won an Oscar for which film musical?

La La Land earned the pair the Best Original Song Oscar for City of Stars, two years before they supplied the words for Jasmine's new solo.

Which duet written for Aladdin and Jasmine was cut from Disney's 2019 Aladdin, then released that August?

Desert Moon was revealed as a casualty of the edit by the film's leading man five days before the US release, and Disney put the song out three months later.

Which hitmaking producer joined the Genie's actor on the end-credits rap version of Friend Like Me in 2019's Aladdin?

DJ Khaled also produced the track, which gave the remake a second take on the song beside the one performed in the film itself.

Which musical number in 2019's Aladdin, an extravagant arrival in Agrabah, was staged with 1,000 dancers and extras?

Prince Ali was also rewritten to suit the personality of the film's Genie, who was encouraged to bring his hip-hop background to the song.

Which lyricist of A Whole New World is credited with the words to One Jump Ahead on the 2019 Aladdin soundtrack?

Tim Rice wrote the words to the love duet and Aladdin's chase song, while the Genie's big numbers are credited to his predecessor on the 1992 film, Howard Ashman.

Which desert valley, famous from Lawrence of Arabia, hosted location filming for Disney's 2019 Aladdin?

Wadi Rum's sandstone landscape also stood in for the surface of Mars in The Martian, and it is the largest wadi in its country.

Principal photography on Disney's 2019 Aladdin began at Longcross Studios, which are in which country?

England hosted the main shoot, in Surrey, from September 2017 to January 2018, with reshoots following that August.

Gemma Jackson, who created the sets of Agrabah for 2019's Aladdin, was production designer on which TV series?

Game of Thrones won her an Emmy, and her vision of Aladdin's city earned nominations from the Saturn Awards and the Art Directors Guild.

A first look at the blue Genie from Disney's 2019 Aladdin was mocked online after airing during which awards show?

The Grammys sneak peek in February 2019 set off a wave of memes, but a second trailer a month later was far better received.

Memes mocking the blue Genie of Disney's 2019 Aladdin compared him to Tobias Fünke, a character from which sitcom?

Arrested Development has Tobias paint himself blue in a doomed bid to join the Blue Man Group, a look fans thought the trailer's Genie shared.

Which country, home to the film's desert locations, hosted the first regional premiere of Disney's 2019 Aladdin?

Jordan's premiere was held in the presence of members of its royal family, and the film became the Middle East's highest-grossing release up to that time.

The world premiere of Disney's 2019 Aladdin took place at the Grand Rex cinema in which European capital?

Paris saw the film on May 8, 2019, more than two weeks before it opened in American cinemas.

Disney moved its 2019 Aladdin from December to May by swapping release dates with which Star Wars film?

The Rise of Skywalker took the December 2019 slot first pencilled in for Aladdin, a switch Disney made in September 2017, the month filming began.

Disney's 2019 Aladdin opened in US cinemas over which holiday weekend, taking $116.8 million in four days?

Memorial Day gave the film a far bigger launch than the $80 million forecast, and its fifth day was the biggest Tuesday after that holiday on record at the time.

2019's Aladdin overtook which earlier blockbuster to become its Genie actor's highest-grossing film worldwide?

Independence Day had held the worldwide record among his films since 1996, and Aladdin passed it within weeks of release.

Which overseas country was the biggest market for Disney's 2019 Aladdin, ahead of South Korea and China?

Japan took in over $110 million, helped by an opening weekend that beat Avengers: Endgame as the year's biggest there for a foreign film.

The actor who plays Jasmine's father in Disney's 2019 Aladdin was terrorist leader Abu Nazir in which TV thriller?

Homeland made him a familiar face as a terrorist mastermind, a long way from the wise and noble ruler he plays in Agrabah.

The actress who plays Jasmine's handmaiden in 2019's Aladdin spent five years in the cast of which sketch show?

Saturday Night Live had her from 2009 to 2014, and her Aladdin role was first announced under a different name, Mara.

Which head of the palace guards in 2019's Aladdin, loyal to Jasmine's father, takes over much of Razoul's old role?

Hakim was only a thin lieutenant among the guards in the animated films, but the remake promotes him to their commander.

In Disney's 2019 Aladdin, how does the Genie end up spending Aladdin's second wish after Jafar's attack?

Saving him from drowning costs the second wish because Jafar hurls Aladdin into the sea as a test, reasoning that survival would prove he holds the lamp.

Alongside Riz Ahmed, which British actor did Disney first consider for the lead of its 2019 Aladdin?

Dev Patel and his fellow star were both passed over when the studio changed course and decided the part should go to a relative newcomer.

At which fan event in July 2017 did Disney announce the actors chosen as Aladdin and Jasmine for its 2019 Aladdin?

D23 Expo was also where the film's composer was revealed to be writing new songs for the remake with the lyricists of a hit film musical.

Jafar's parrot Iago is portrayed as a realistic bird of which species in Disney's 2019 live-action Aladdin?

A scarlet macaw with a sardonic streak, the remake's Iago was made to look and behave far more like a real parrot than the cartoon bird.

2019's Aladdin won only one of its nine Saturn Award nominations, for Michael Wilkinson's work in which field?

Costume design brought the film its only Saturn win, and the same work earned a nomination from the Costume Designers Guild.

Which effects house led the visual effects for Disney's 2019 Aladdin, with help from Hybride and DNEG?

Industrial Light & Magic led the work under three supervisors, and the film's Agrabah and magic carpet both earned Visual Effects Society nominations.

Jasmine's late mother in Disney's 2019 Aladdin came from which kingdom, a realm Jafar is eager to conquer?

Shirabad matters to the plot because the queen's murder is the reason Jasmine's father keeps his daughter shut inside the palace.

Disguised as royalty by his first wish in Disney's 2019 Aladdin, Aladdin claims to come from which made-up kingdom?

Ababwa is the kingdom he names on arriving at the palace with a vast procession, yet the grand entrance still fails to impress Jasmine.

After seizing power in Disney's 2019 Aladdin, Jafar banishes Aladdin and his monkey to what kind of place?

A frozen wasteland is where the pair are stranded until the Genie secretly sends the magic carpet to fetch them behind Jafar's back.

After making himself ruler in 2019's Aladdin, Jafar uses his second wish to become the world's most powerful what?

Sorcerer is not enough for him, though: taunted that he is still second to the Genie, he spends his last wish and ends up trapped in a lamp of his own.

Which Latin pop singer features on Un Mundo Ideal, the bilingual English-Spanish single from Disney's 2019 Aladdin?

Becky G recorded the Spanish-language lines for a version of the love duet that came out on the same day as the soundtrack album.