a whole new world

Aladdin Remake: Disney’s Finally Giving Princess Jasmine Her Own Song

Award-winning duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul have also written a new duet for Jasmine and Aladdin.
princess jasmine
By Moviestore/REX.

Disney is burnishing its live-action Aladdin remake with some novel musical twists. According to Variety, award-winning duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul took a quick break from polishing their Oscars and Tonys to write a new original song for Princess Jasmine. In case you forget, the tiger-toting royal doesn’t have a solo number in the original 1992 movie; rather, she and the titular street rat duet on the classic “A Whole New World.” (She does, however, get a solo in the Broadway musical version—a rich-people-problems jam called “These Palace Walls.”) According to Variety, Pasek and Paul have since rectified this injustice, penning Jasmine a song of her own, which will be sung by actress Naomi Scott. The music was written by legendary Disney composer Alan Menken.

“Alan wrote a beautiful piece of music and [Scott] is incredible,” Paul told Variety.

The duo also shared a couple more tidbits, including that they got to write a “sweet” new duet for Aladdin and Jasmine—great news for future drunken groups at karaoke bars everywhere. They also wrote a new verse for “Arabian Nights,” the sweeping number that opens the original animated feature. That song was also the source of controversy upon the original film’s release, lambasted for lyrics that were considered culturally insensitive. Disney eventually acquiesced and changed the lyrics, altering the song so the new version would be on the home-video release and any subsequent theatrical release. Now, Pasek and Paul are John Hancock-ing this thing, adding a flourish of their own to the original lyrics, which were penned by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice.

The live-action remake will be directed by Guy Ritchie and will star Mena Massoud as Aladdin, Scott as Jasmine, and Will Smith as the Genie. The film will hit theaters on May 24, 2019. It’s one of a slew of live-action remakes in the works, sidling up alongside the Donald Glover and Beyoncé-led Lion King, and Mulan, starring Liu Yifei, who already looks every part the action heroine.