‘Aladdin 2’ is coming back with the same cast

Hold onto your magic carpets — Aladdin is getting a sequel.

Last year’s live-action remake of the 1992 Disney animation — helmed by Guy Ritchie and starring Mena Massoud as Aladdin and Naomi Scott as Jasmine — crossed $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) at the global box office. Now, director Ritchie and both his lead actors — as well as Will Smith as Genie — are returning to the colourful world of Agrabah.

Speaking to tabloid in Jordan, where Aladdin partially filmed, Ritchie earlier commented: “I would consider a part two. Having just completed part one, I haven’t got my noodle anywhere near thinking about thinking about that one just yet.”

Disney has brought on scribes John Gatins (Flight, Real Steel) and Andrea Berloff (Straight Outta Compton, The Kitchen) to pen the new adventure.

According to the announcement, producers looked to other stories from One Thousand and One Nights, which is home to the Arabic folktale that inspired the Aladdin films in the first place. The collection of Middle Eastern stories is home to Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and Sinbad the Sailor.

The 1992 Aladdin was one of the highest-grossing animation films of all time, followed by two less successful and direct-to-video sequels: The Return of Jafar (1994) and Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996).