Disney's live action Aladdin finally has a teaser trailer, a little snack to tide us over until the real thing arrives in 2019. Aladdin started production this year, following what felt like a triple slam of controversies. First, in 2017, reports emerged that Disney was having trouble finding actors for the lead roles. Then, the movie cast Naomi Scott, a woman of Indian and British descent, as Jasmine, prompting fans to complain that production hadn't cast someone of Middle Eastern descent. Then, white actor Billy Magnussen joined the cast, causing an outcry, as Magnussen's character didn't exist in the original movie. (It looked like the studio had created a role just to ensure there would be a white actor involved.) After all that, there was yet another controversy when Kaushal Odedra, an actor involved in the film, said that production was spray-tanning white background actors to make them appear darker. At this point, Scheherazade could just list the movie's controversies instead of reciting her 1,001 folktales. ("And then, tomorrow night, I'll tell you about the spray-tanning controversy...")
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Still, the movie is marching forward, and the teaser trailer is triumphantly Aladdin-esque, pulling distinct moments from the 1992 animated film to remind viewers that, hey, you like this movie. First, the sand tiger growls, the same one who roared "Who disturbs my slumber?" in the original film. Then, a slow, enchanting version of "Never Had A Friend Like Me" begins to drawl as the camera pans over piles and piles of gold. Finally, Aladdin himself (Mena Massoud, who also recently appeared in Amazon's Jack Ryan) appears, looking intently at a lamp. Color me impressed.
Watch the full trailer, below.