I kept waiting for all of the hot takes about how Aladdin was going to be racist trash, but it looks like… Disney sort of pulled it off? Maybe those takes were out there and I just didn’t see them. I did see several complimentary reviews of Aladdin, which were basically like “of course this isn’t the best movie ever, but it’s perfectly enjoyable.” The Rotten Tomatoes score for Aladdin was only 57% on opening weekend, but as Disney has shown repeatedly, these kinds of kids’ films are absolutely critic-proof. And as such, Aladdin made a significant haul on its three-day opening weekend:
While the box office’s holiday weekend is not yet over, Aladdin is already posting big earnings in its three-day weekend run. The Disney live-action title has grossed $86.1 million in its release so far, already out-pacing earlier estimates that it would gross $80 million for the entire Memorial Day holiday. Aladdin is now on pace for a $100 million plus four-day bow.
Guy Ritchie directed Aladdin, which stars Will Smith as the Genie and Mena Massoud as the titular hero, a charming street rat who masquerades as a prince to win the affections of Princess Jasmine, played by Naomi Scott. The movie musical, produced by Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich’s Rideback, opened wide in 4,400 locations. The re-hashing of the studio’s 1992 animation has received a mixed response from critics, with a 57 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but has fared far better with audiences, earning a A CinemaScore.
You know who really needed this win? Guy Ritchie. It would be interesting if Ritchie just fully gave up on his gangster films and just became the director of Disney spectacles and family-friendly action movies. Anyway, I guess I’m happy for everyone involved. I still think it’s sort of dumb to do all of these live-action remakes of beloved Disney animated films, but every single one they’ve done thus far has been a huge financial success. The Lion King is next, right? And BEYONCE is involved in that one. So…yeah… it will be a huge success too.
Photos courtesy of Disney/IMDB.
My girls saw it yesterday and LOVED it. My 16 year old said she was worried because the trailers looked terrible, but that the movie was actually really great.
I saw it yesterday with my hubby and two girls (9 and 17). We all liked it. I thought the guy who played Aladdin was super charming and Will Smith was delightful as usual.
My little grandson loved it and so did his mom.
I watched it over the weekend and loved it. Also Aladdin the 90’s animated version is my favorite Disney film and I didn’t expect to like this new version as much as I did. Beauty and the Beast was terrible in comparison IMHO.
Well that is good to read. The trailers had me worried.
I cringed at the trailer and I hated the Beauty and the Beast live action, but I must confess, I was completely charmed.
The lead actor Mena Massoud is Egyptian Canadian and he is utterly adorable. He is animated Aladdin come to life. As much as I recognize the movie’s flaws, I just didn’t care. Completely charming and fun.
I’m glad to hear this. I was mad that they didn’t do justice to Beauty and the Beast, which has my all time favorite musical score.
“A Whole New World” came out great, and for all the movie’s flaws they had me for sure after that. 😁
The thing that really impressed me versus BATB was the romance. Where BATB felt like, well they fall in love now because that’s the story; Jasmine and Aladdin has chemistry, I bought that they would get together, that she would want to marry him. They really make the movie, much more than Smith (who is good though).
Did they darken the actress who played Jasmine’s skin?
@kittycat why would you assume they darkened her skin? Maybe she’s just dark skinned- like jasmine in the movie.
If they dis that, yikes, that’s a generalization of Arabs and Middle Easterns who tend to go from light skinned to dark skinned.
I really think she had to get spray tanned because Naomi is lighter in real life I think.
“ Naomi is lighter in real life I think”
You can think but you’d be wrong. She looks the same in the movie to real life from what I’ve seen, with some allowances for set lighting versus real lighting.
The “darkening” thing came out of them doing it to some stunt people and extras supposedly. That’s still highly questionable and concerning, but the lead actors? Come on, Disney is dumb at times but they are far from stupid. 🙄
We saw it tonight and it was fun! I am not that into the original and I thought the pacing was good and the action. I found some of the speeding up and slowing down of the film speed at certain points distracting. The song ‘Speechless- was some much needed female empowerment in that setting.
I didn’t mind Will Smith as much as I thought I would. He was actually very good when he had his own lines to play. I did however miss Robin Williams during the “Friend like me” song.
I saw the extended trailer that had the “Prince Ali” scene, and I hate the way Will Smith’s voice sounds in that song! Like, whoa. But “Friend like me” didn’t sound bad. I think that the trailers show that he does a few things that are all his own and that are funny. I am open to the movie but probably won’t see it until it’s streaming somewhere.
I was worried but watched the movie and loved it. Will Smith did a great job. I loved that he didn’t even try to do Robin Williams, who is irreplaceable. He put his own spin on the genie and it worked.
I find it weird that people who are otherwise complaining about lack of diversity, suddenly didn’t want to see Aladdin because Disney. Like now we’re caring about the evil corporation after we gave all our money to Endgame in which all women and POC can be cut out without the movie losing its consistency. Like there was that entire campaign about supporting Captain Marvel which is totally fine but why not also support actors like Mena Massoud.
As a WOC I don’t think we should simply “support diverse movies” just because of diversity. If the movie looks horrible (and the trailers for this movie were not that great), people have the right to question whether or not they want to spend their hard earned money to watch it. I don’t see anyone bashing Mena at all. I’m glad the movie did well, though there are issues with the casting as the only actual Arab cast member was the villian (how typical).
Agreed. Considering the fact that the old Aladdin was problematic and even the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination came out against it due to its stereotypes, tropes and offensive opening song as well, I’ll be giving this a miss (and I am Arab – although I am happy to see Arab-descendant actors becoming more visible).
And from what I can see, Arab reviewers found this film skating at times with controversies.
Sure, but in that vein then we shouldn’t complain when the next how many blockbusters are fronted by white actors.
Sally, but why assume that we also went out and watched Avengers or blockbusters? Quite honestly, I avoid blockbusters in general and I haven’t watched an action hero movie for years now. POC representation is still a huge problem in hollywood and remaking a problematic Disney movie with here and there arab-american or arab-canadian actors is not going to solve the problem. Like I said, I am happy that there is growing visibility of Arab actors in movies, and that does not mean I do not support other films directed and fronted by Arab actors. One recommendation I can give you is the film Capernaum. Save your money for that instead of a blockbuster disney movie.
@ Sally
Do all White people support White lead movies (good or bad)? If a White lead movie fails do they not still make a million other White lead movies? If a movie filled with diverse actors fails, maybe the movie just wasn’t good? That doesn’t mean other movies with a diverse cast shouldn’t be made.
@ ME
Are seriously saying that white actors and POC actors get the same chances? White is the default. Movies starring white will always be made. Not the same thing can be said about the others.
Look how long it took to get another female led movie after Catwoman and Elektra failed at the BO. It’s disingenuous to argue that POC fronted movies and especially with ones of Middle Eastern descent get the same chances.
@ Sally
You completely missed my point. I never said they get the same chances. As a WOC I personally KNOW that’s not true. I even said that if a movie with a diverse cast fails, that’s no reason to never make one again. Movies with White leads that fail hasn’t stopped Hollywood from making them…so those that SUPPORT the making of movies with a diverse cast should and will continue to make movies with a diverse cast even if some don’t do well. I think that’s pretty much all I have to say on this subject.
@ ME
Except it doesn’t work like that because the racist white people are in a majority and they can finance how many white movies they want whereas not the same thing can be said about the rest. A token successful Black Panther movies is not enough to rise the tide where other non-black POCs might be concerned.
Mena Massoud is Egyptian/Arabic he immigrated to canada as a child
Meh. Im just tired of these unnecessary movies. Not watching it. But I did watch John Wick and it was really fun.
How is Aladdin “unnecessary” but the 3rd John Wick isn’t “unnecessary”? A live action remake of an animated film versus the third movie of a franchise? They both seem “unnecessary” to me.
John Wick is the exception to the rule, because Keanu Reeves is an angel.
I don’t know about Steph’s reasoning, but I’ll take a sequel of an original franchise over a remake/reboot any day.
And also Keanu Reeves is an angel. 🙂
This movie was great. Saw it with my 3 year old yesterday.
Will Smith was just great as the Genie and his songs were the catchiest!
We just saw it and I surprisingly loved it. Visually it was stunning, I thought Will Smith was actually pretty charming as the genie, mena and Naomi were both great. The only part I didn’t like was “speechless” lol but I understood that they were trying to flesh out jasmines character and make her more interesting (jasmine in the original is pretty blah if you think about it).
I liked the BATB remake but it felt unnecessary to me. I feel like this brought more to the story.
I’m over Disney’s lack of creativity lately. I refuse to see any of these live action remakes; because the originals are damn near perfection. It’s disappointing that people still flock to see these, which means that Disney will keep doing it.
I thought it would be bad when I heard Will Smith playing the genie. But after watching the movie? WOW…. Will pulled it off quiet smoothly.
It’s way much better than Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins and Dumbo all together.
A high five to all the cast of Aladdin.
We are going to see it later this week.
Anything that brings a bit of happiness, is going to get my money.
The production, costumes look very good and honestly, I am needing some light entertainment. Not everything has to be Marvel or over the top action.