17 Jul – "Power Rangers" star Naomi Scott will be playing Princess Jasmine, the love interest of Aladdin in Guy Ritchie's live action remake of the beloved 1992 animated hit. The announcement was made on Saturday at the D23 Expo, where the cast of titular character Aladdin as well as Genie from the Lamp have also been confirmed, and they are Mena Massoud and Will Smith, respectively.
Naomi Scott is a British actress of the Indian descent as her mother is from northern India. Most known for her role as Kimberly Hart, the Pink Ranger from the 2017 "Power Rangers", this will not be Scott's first role in a Disney production as she previously starred in the Disney Channel original movie "Lemonade Mouth". Meanwhile, relatively newcomer Mena Massoud was born in Egypt and raised in Canada. He has a few TV credits and is part of the cast of Amazon's "Jack Ryan" series starring John Krasinski. Rumours of Will Smith playing the blue powerful spirit Genie, started back in April, and now the actor has been confirmed to take on the voice role previously filled by Robin Williams in 1992 animation. "Aladdin" was the highest-grossing film of the year in 1992, earning over USD217 million in revenue in the United States, and over USD504 million worldwide. The film won Academy Awards for best score and best song for "A Whole New World."