Film & TV News Live-Action Aladdin Will Begin Filming This Summer Alan Menken discusses working with Guy Ritchie on the new adaptation of the Disney film.

By Andrew Gans

June 13, 2017

Alan Menken has revealed that the live-action adaptation of Aladdin is scheduled to begin filming as early as this August.

In an interview with Billboard, the Tony and Oscar winner (represented on Broadway this season with the new musical A Bronx Tale) discussed the upcoming project, helmed by Guy Ritchie.

Read: WILL LIVE-ACTION ALADDIN STAR WILL SMITH AS THE GENIE?

“Guy Ritchie is directing and he’s never directed a musical before, so it’s going to be a lot of attempts to reinvent the wheel,” Menken said. “Where it’s re-inventable, we will do it and where it’s not, we will discover that together. But it has to be a very fast discovery process because at this point shooting is supposed to start in August.”

There is also a live-action Little Mermaid in the works; however, because of scheduling Aladdin will begin filming first.

“Both the producer and my collaborator on [The Little Mermaid], Lin-Manuel Miranda, are working on Mary Poppins in London,” Menken explained, “so Aladdin has now jumped ahead of it and that’s what I’m in the thick of now.”

The stage production of Aladdin continues at the New Amsterdam Theatre. The Broadway musical, which expands the 90-minute film into a two-act format, feautres music by Menken, lyrics by the late Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, and a book and additional lyrics by Chad Beguelin. Casey Nicholaw directs and choreographs.

To purchase Aladdin tickets, click here.