Disney Developing Live-Action ALADDIN Prequel

After over two decades as one of Disney's greatest animated classics, and a year into its smash Broadway run, ALADDIN might soon be returning to the big screen.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney is currently at work on a live-action prequel to the 1992 film, centering on the beloved character of Genie. Damian Shannon and Mark Swift are penning the film's script.

The prequel will center on "the realm of the Genies and tell how that one Genie ended up enslaved in the lamp."

Things are still very much in the early stages, per THR, though Disney's ultimate goal is to have the feature eventually lead into a live-action version of ALADDIN.

The animated film Aladdin was released by Disney in 1992 and was a critical and box office smash, grossing over $500 million worldwide (not adjusted for inflation) and becoming the highest-grossing film of the year.

The film won the Oscar for Best Original Score and introduced the hit song "A Whole New World," which won the second of the film's two Academy Awards as Best Original Song. The Peabo Bryson/Regina Belle recording of the tune soared to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

In its first smash year on Broadway, Aladdin has been seen by nearly three quarters of a million people and broken five New Amsterdam Theatre house records. Despite beginning performances eight weeks into 2014, Aladdin was the third highest-attended Broadway show of last year - only the juggernauts Wicked and The Lion King entertained more people - and finished 2014 as the fifth highest-grossing show of the year, the only new show of last season to make the top five.

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