Disney(LOS ANGELES) — Remember in December, when everyone got so bent out of shape when Entertainment Weekly‘s cover photo showed Will Smith as the Genie in the forthcoming live-action Aladdin remake — and he wasn’t blue? Smith himself answered the haters on Instagram, posting in part: “[A]nd yes, I’m gonna be BLUE!”
He wasn’t kidding. Disney on Sunday night released a “special look” mini-trailer, that ends with Smith’s part-CGI reveal as the Genie — emerging from the lamp in an electric-blue tornado of smoke until we see him in all his glory. He’s blue, all right, and bare-chested, with pointed ears and the Genie’s signature beard and top knot.
“You really don’t know who I am?” he asks an incredulous Aladdin. “Genie, wishes, lamp — none of that ringing a bell?”
The original, animated Aladdin premiered in 1992 and famously starred the late Robin Williams in a virtuoso vocal performance as the Genie that earned him a Golden Globe. That movie has grossed $504 million worldwide.
Directed by Guy Ritchie, Aladdin also stars Mena Massoud in the title role, Naomi Scott as Jasmine and Marwan Kenzari as Jafar. It opens May 24 from Disney, parent company of ABC News.
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