Mena Massoud Casts Doubt on ‘Aladdin 2’ Plans

You may want to put away your magic carpets for a while, folks. You may not need them, if Aladdin star Mena Massoud is to be believed. The headliner of Guy Ritchie‘s live-action remake of the beloved Disney animation has poured cold water on the prospect of a return to Agrabah.

Massoud starred alongside Will Smith – playing the famous role of The Genie of the Lamp, first portrayed by Robin Williams – in the 2019 film, which was a massive financial success despite mixed critical reviews. But despite the box office boon it provided, its star thinks the story has come to an end.

“Very unlikely at this point,” Massoud tweeted when responding to a fan who enquired about the prospect of Aladdin 2 going ahead. However, this seems to be at odds with Ritchie, who spoke openly and optimistically about the prospect of another round with Agrabah’s most famous street rat. Ritchie told Collider that he’d “very much like to” make a sequel.

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.

RELATED: Why the Live-Action ‘Aladdin’ Remake is the Escapist Fantasy I Never Knew I Needed

Disney Had Previously Been Keen on a Sequel

A sequel had previously been reported as being in the works at Disney, with the studio hiring writers John Gatins (Flight, Real Steel) and Andrea Berloff (Straight Outta Compton, The Kitchen) to figure out the next path for the story. Ritchie was reported as being set to return, alongside Massoud, Smith and Naomi Scott, who played Princess Jasmine in the remake.

A sequel seemed a no-brainer at the time for Disney, with the original grossing $1.05 billion at the global box office. But since then, a number of Disney films have seen diminishing financial returns in a world changed by the pandemic. The risk-to-reward factor may be seen as too great for the studio, which has announced it is cutting back on certain types of content under the returning leadership of Bob Iger, who replaced his successor Bob Chapek as CEO of the Walt Disney Company.

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.