Disney to explore the wondrous magic of diminishing returns with live-action Aladdin sequel

Disney’s live-action Aladdin movie made a billion dollars last year, the purest argument imaginable in favor of the Guy Ritchie film’s existence as an excellent, touching, extremely necessary installment in the company’s current canon of live-action recreations of its animated films. Now, having already brought all of that first film’s characters to a happy ending, emotional resolution, big musical number, etc., the company is now gearing up to, well…Do it all again. This thing made a billion dollars, after all; y’all know how this works.

THR reports tonight that the eldritch entertainment mega-giant has now officially moved forward with its plans for Aladdin 2: The Cave Of Diminishing Returns, including setting a pair of screenwriters, John Gatins and Andrea Berloff, to pen the script. Berloff is no stranger to diamond in the rough stories, of course, having previously co-written the screenplay for Straight Outta Compton. Gatins, meanwhile, is best known for the Denzel Washington alcoholism drama Flight; with that in mind, we can’t wait to watch Mena Massoud slowly self-destruct in a hotel room while the FAA goes over his carpet-flying skills with a fine-toothed comb.

Massoud is reportedly coming back, by the way (and despite any lingering resentments about how he’s been treated by the company after fronting a certified blockbuster for them), along with Ritchie, Naomi Scott, and Will Smith as Genie. (Although nothing, obviously, is certain when you’re working with phenomenal corporate powers like this.) The original animated Aladdin did get a sequel (the first of several), in the form of 1994's direct-to-video The Return Of Jafar, although it’s not seeming especially likely that the new film will follow in the original follow-up’s footsteps (despite what a major career coup for Jason Alexander that might be).