That trailer, which was only a teaser, did not feature any shots of the Genie, who will be played by Will Smith. On Wednesday (December 19th) Entertainment Weekly revealed the first imagery of Smith as the Genie. Smith appears on the cover, as well as Aladdin (Mena Massoud) and Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott.)
\u201c@Freeyourmindkid They got Will Smith looking like Overton from Living Single.\u201d
— \ud83c\uddef\ud83c\uddf2Black \ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddf9 Aziz \ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddec aNANsi \ud83c\uddf9\ud83c\uddf9 (@\ud83c\uddef\ud83c\uddf2Black \ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddf9 Aziz \ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddec aNANsi \ud83c\uddf9\ud83c\uddf9) 1545230635
— (@)
\u201cWhat could Will Smith possibly have done to deserve this? Jada is gonna have to do a whole episode of \u201cRead Table Talk\u201d about this hair piece.\u201d
One thing fans shouldn't be too concerned: Smith's color. Will Smith responded to an IG comment, assuring fans that he will be blue';
\u201cAnd here\u2019s Will Smith with more info on his genie character\u2019s look\u201d
— Matthew A. Cherry (@Matthew A. Cherry) 1545231780
In the Entertainment Weekly piece, there are some hints of what to expect from Smith. The Genie in the original movie was played by Robin Williams. So how would Smith add his own twist to such an iconic character?
An unnamed Disney executive described Smith’s Genie as "part Fresh Prince, part Hitch." Will Smith added “I think it’ll stand out as unique even in the Disney world...There hasn’t been a lot of that hip-hop flavor in Disney history.”
