Following the success of live-action films like "Beauty and the Beast" and "Jungle Book," Disney is looking to take on another challenge for the big screen. "Aladdin" is currently in the planning phases, and the company behind the mouse is hoping to land the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" as their new genie.
will smith could certainly use the help these days, as his biggest film in recent years was "Suicide Squad," a movie which barely scraped by with an Oscar for "best makeup" likely due to the transformation of Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje into Killer Croc.
Smith had skipped out on a chance to appear in "Independence Day: Resurgence," despite being the biggest draw for the first film.
This could be Will Smith's big comeback
In recent years, the rapper/actor appears to have avoided the spotlight in favor of films with more Oscar potential, such as "Collateral Beauty" and "Pursuit of Happyness." He also attempted a lesser-known superhero character in an era before antiheroes were mainstream enough to be profitable, "Hancock." His intentions were made relatively clear in 2016 when his wife Jada mentioned that he hadn't had a single Oscar nod in his entire career.
It's unknown how much of Will Smith might be used in the live-action "Aladdin," as the late Robin Williams only lent his voice and a bit of his likeness to the genie in the animated version.
Will could end up subject to CG effects transforming him into a big blue vapor floating over a lamp.
The 'Fresh Prince' could be facing some seriously high expectations
Following in the footsteps of Robin Williams and possibly being subjected to heavy CG effects could be a challenge for Smith, who has rarely been the subject of such high expectations.
Robin's energy and tendency to do impressions out of nowhere might be lost unless Smith has been hiding some talent we didn't know about. The closest thing to a weird disguise he's tried was in the flop known as "Wild Wild West," where he dressed as a woman in order to try fooling the villain.
Disney has been known to pull off some previously questionable casting choices before, such as getting Chris Evans, a formerly comedy-leaning actor and the previous face of the Fantastic Four's Johnny Storm, to play the role of Marvel boy scout Captain America. Recasting Edward Norton with Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, and giving Vin Diesel a voice acting role were both risky ventures, but Disney has proven that they know what they're doing.
