La La Land's Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote 2 new songs for the live-action Aladdin
Last night was kind of monopolized by the Academy Awards and the Roseanne trailer, leaving little room for other news that attendees might drop during red carpet interviews with Variety. Apparently, though, La La Land and The Greatest Showman songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul did drop some news during a red carpet interview with Variety last night, revealing that they’re developing two new songs for Disney’s live-action remake of Aladdin with longtime Disney composer and songwriter Alan Menken.
Pasek and Paul—who also wrote “Runnin’ Home To You” from The Flash—told Variety that they had a hard time getting work done, since they just kept nerding out over Menken’s old Disney stories (“tell us about Ariel!” is an exact quote), but hopefully whatever they come up with still lives up to the original Aladdin’s very good soundtrack. Along with these two new Pasek/Paul originals, the Aladdin movie will have Will Smith as the Genie, Marwan Kenzari as Jafar, and some bizarrely unfortunate stuff like extras with artificially darkened skin and a new white guy played by Billy Magnussen.
Aladdin will be directed by Guy Ritchie, and it’ll be in theaters on May 24, 2019—a release date it grabbed from Star Wars: Episode IX.