Disney has unveiled their latest trailer for Guy Ritchie’s Aladdin, offering the world a first look at Will Smith’s blue Genie.
Unfortunately for the Mouse, the Internet has not reacted favourably, with Tweeters being quick to mock the bizarre CGI wish-maker.
One Twitter user wrote: “Either this is a super clever marketing troll by Disney, and this isn’t what the genie will actually look like for Aladdin or... I dunno. Man, I just can’t believe this can possibly be the real thing. I just can’t.”
Another added: “The Will Smith genie feels like a spoiler for Bird Box because I finally understand what image would make them so fascinated but also want to kill themselves.”
Many people posted side-by-side photos of Smith’s Genie and David Cross’s Arrested Development character Tobias Fünke in blue man make-up.
The new trailer for Aladdin, which sees Mena Massoud‘s leading character approach a familiar lion-shaped cave, was released midway through the Grammys.
Disney has previously released images of Smith’s Genie in human form. Speaking at the time, the actor said: “Whenever you’re doing things that are iconic, it’s always terrifying/ The question is always: Where was there meat left on the bone? Robin didn’t leave a lot of meat on the bone with the character.”
After acknowledging that Williams “infused the character with a timeless version of himself,” Smith decided he would do the same.
“I started to feel confident that I could deliver something that was an homage to Robin Williams but was musically different,” he said. “Just the flavour of the character would be different enough and unique enough that it would be in a different lane, versus trying to compete.”
Director Ritchie said of the floating version of Smith’s character: “I wanted a muscular 1970s dad. He was big enough to feel like a force — not so muscular that he looked like he was counting his calories, but formidable enough to look like you knew when he was in the room.”
Aladdin stars Marwan Kenzari as Jafar and Naomi Scott as Jasmine. A teaser was released for the film earlier this year. The film reaches cinemas on 24 May 2019.
