Aladdin (Franchise)

**Aladdin** is a Disney media franchise that began in 1992. It is based on the Arabic folktale of the same name from the One Thousand and One Nights.

## Films

### Aladdin

Aladdin was released in 1992. The 31st Disney animated feature film was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, and is based on the Arabic folktale of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp from the One Thousand and One Nights. The plot follows street urchin Aladdin as he attempts to gain the affection of Princess Jasmine after acquiring a magic lamp.

### The Return of Jafar

Aladdin was followed by Disney's first direct-to-video sequel, The Return of Jafar in 1994. The plot mainly focused on Jafar seeking revenge on Aladdin. However, this time, with Iago on Aladdin's side, Abis Mal becomes Jafar's new henchman. Now, Aladdin and co. must find a way to thwart Jafar, with his limitless genie power.

### Aladdin and the King of Thieves

In 1996, the second sequel to Aladdin, Aladdin and the King of Thieves was released on video. The story concludes as Aladdin and Jasmine are about to have their wedding and Aladdin discovers that his father is still alive, but is the leader of the Forty Thieves.

### Aladdin (2019 Film)

On October 10, 2016, Deadline reported that Disney was developing a live-action Aladdin movie, with John August writing the script and Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich producing. The site also reported that Guy Ritchie was in talks to direct the film. Filming began in July 2017 and continued through January 2018. On July 15, at the D23 Expo it was announced that Naomi Scott and Will Smith were cast as Princess Jasmine and Genie, respectively, along with newcomer Mena Massoud being cast as Aladdin. The film was released on May 24, 2019.

## Television

### Aladdin

Shortly after The Return of Jafar, an animated series was produced. The episodes focused on Aladdin's adventures after the events of the second film.

The Aladdin characters later made a crossover with Hercules: The Animated Series, and were featured as guests in the television series House of Mouse and related works to those series, Jafar was the leader of the villains in Mickey's House of Villains.

## Musical

In November 2010 Alan Menken confirmed that a musical theatre adaptation of the show is in the works with a book written by Chad Beguelin. The show premiered at the 5th Avenue Theatre from July 7–31, 2011. Jonathan Freeman, who voiced Jafar in the film, played the role in the stage adaptation. Adam Jacobs and Courtney Reed played Aladdin and Jasmine. Additional actors included Seán G. Griffin as the Sultan; Don Darryl Rivera as Iago; and, playing Omar, Babkak, and Kassim – a trio of characters originally conceived by the film's creators but not used – Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Brian Gonzales, and Brandon O'Neill. The show was also directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw. Another production of the musical played at the Muny Theatre in St. Louis from July 5–13, 2012. The musical premiered on Broadway on February 26, 2014 (in previews) and officially opened on March 20, 2014 at the New Amsterdam Theatre, taking the place of Mary Poppins. The musical had a pre-Broadway tryout at the Ed Mirvish Theatre in Toronto lasting from November 13, 2013 to January 12, 2014. Casey Nicholaw directed and choreographed, with Chad Beguelin writing the book and additional lyrics, Bob Crowley as the scene designer, and costume design by Gregg Barnes. Aladdin the musical was also opened at Tokyo's Dentsu Shiki Theatre Umi in May 2015. It had its European premiere in December 2015 at the Stage Theatre Neue Flora in Hamburg. It opened in Sydney and London's West End in 2016.

In addition, a stage adaptation of the movie has been created for younger students, known as Disney's Aladdin Jr. Licensing and performing rights are currently being held by Music Theatre International. MTI licenses both a "Kids" version (which uses doubling to foster more of an ensemble feeling among young children) and a "Dual Language" version (which takes the Junior version and adds an element of half the characters speaking only in Spanish).

A recording of the show will be release on Disney+ in 2022.

## Other Media

### Video Games

#### Disney's Aladdin

Disney's Aladdin was developed for the Mega Drive by Virgin Interactive's studio of Virgin Games USA and published by Sega in 1993. This was due to the fact that Sega had both obtained a license for publishing video games based on Disney's motion picture and established a collaboration deal with Disney's animation studios which was a first in the video game industry, so Sega of America tasked the Virgin Games USA development team with the programming duties because of their successful previous efforts with McDonald's Global Gladiators and 7 Up's Cool Spot. The game has been noted for its use of traditional animation, which was produced by Disney animators under the supervision of Virgin's animation staff, including animation producer Andy Luckey, technical director Paul Schmiedeke and animation director Mike Dietz, using an in-house "Digicel" process to compress the data onto the cartridge. The game also featured arrangements and original compositions composed by Donald S. Griffin.

#### Disney's Aladdin (1993)

Disney's Aladdin (アラジン, Arajin) was developed for the Super NES and published by Capcom separately from Virgin's version, since Capcom still held Disney licensing rights for Nintendo consoles at the time of the film's release. Although the game is still a side-scrolling platformer, it is significantly different in both presentation and gameplay. Similarly following the movie's storyline, players control Aladdin as he jumps on enemies, vaults off stumps and performs various acrobatic feats to get through levels. Throughout the level, Aladdin can collect apples to throw at enemies and golden scarabs which unlock bonus stages. Throughout each level there are various diamonds (collecting all within a level also unlocking bonus stages), with players able to unlock an extra challenge if they collect 70 red diamonds. The game was later ported to the Game Boy Advance with extra stages, though all the songs based directly on the original movie were replaced with new music, possibly because of copyright reasons. It was also unofficially ported to the NES in 1995 by Hummer Team.

#### Disney's Aladdin (1994)

Disney's Aladdin was developed by SIMS and published by Sega, and released in 1994 for the Game Gear worldwide and for the Master System in Europe. Sega went on to produce this game since they already had the necessary intellectual property licensing rights in order to publish the Virgin Interactive game on the Mega Drive/Genesis. The game is also significantly different in gameplay compared to its Mega Drive counterpart. There are three main types of level, chase levels in which Aladdin must outrun enemies while dodging obstacles, exploration levels in which Aladdin must carefully navigate traps and solve puzzles, similar to Prince of Persia, and carpet levels in which Aladdin rides his flying carpet. It also, unlike its 16-bit counterparts, fairly closely follow the plot of the movie, even including cut scenes containing entire dialogue scenes from the movie.

#### Aladdin the Series: Tower of Gold Adventure

Aladdin the Series: Tower of Gold Adventure is a handheld electronic game that was developed and published by Tiger Electronics in 1994 in the United States. It is based on the television series of the same name.

#### Disney's Aladdin in Nasira's Revenge

Disney's Aladdin in Nasira's Revenge is the Aladdin franchise video game which was developed for the PlayStation and PC by Argonaut Games and distributed by Disney Interactive in 2001. The game is set after the events of The Return of Jafar, during the television series, and before Aladdin and the King of Thieves. The legendary city of Agrabah is in trouble again: the evil sorceress Nasira is out to avenge the death of her brother, the nefarious sorcerer Jafar. She begins her vengeful plot by taking over the palace with a spell and kidnapping Princess Jasmine and the Sultan; she then commands the guard's captain Razoul to bring Aladdin to her. The treacherous Nasira believes that if she collects a set of ancient relics that are spread all over Agrabah she might be able to revive Jafar and take over the world, and so she uses her captives to force Aladdin into doing this job for her.

#### Disney's Aladdin Pinball

Disney's Aladdin Pinball is video game developed for Windows by Disney Interactive and published by Disney Online. It was released on July 11, 2005. The game consists of three separate pinball tables that can be traversed in a single game. They include The Market Place, The Cave of Wonders, and the Royal Palace.

### Books

In 2015 Disney Press launched a young adult novel series that retells Disney films but with certain elements changed. The first novel in the series is A Whole New World: A Twisted Tale, written by Liz Braswell, a dark fantasy which retells the film but with Jafar gaining control of the genie before Aladdin does.

## Disney Parks

* The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
* Arabian Coast
* Le Passage Enchanté d'Aladdin
* Adventureland Bazaar
* Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular