The actor ‘in talks’ to play the Genie in Aladdin will be a popular choice with fans

We could see this happening.

We're getting progressively more excited about the new Aladdin movie. The live-action version of the much-loved cartoon will be directed by Guy Richie and produced by Dan Lin. We spoke with Dan a few months back and he told us that the movie will be very different.

"Aladdin is going to be different, live action, colour. I think it will be less cutty than previous Guy Richie movies with a real style to it that he is going to bring that you haven't seen before," he said. "What's unexpected what's fresh about telling these stories. They are stories with great mythology, like Batman and Aladdin. How do you tell it in a way that audiences haven't seen before and that's what I'm excited about."

And now, the first big name has been linked to the movie for the main role of the Genie. Deadline is reporting that Will Smith is in talks to play the role once made famous by Robin Williams. Will would be perfect for the role given his musical background and his style of comedy. Interestingly, he recently pulled out of talks to play a role in the Dumbo live-action over budgets so we'll just have to see where these talks go. It's due to go into production in July and will be released in 2018.