At last, director Guy Ritchie's live-action Aladdin has its title character and its Princess Jasmine, and even the Genie.
Power Rangers star Naomi Scott (she played the Pink Ranger in this spring's Power Rangers film) will play the coveted role of Princess Jasmine, it was announced at the D23 Expo.
Mena Massoud, who stars in Amazon's Jack Ryan TV series, will step in as the film's title character Aladdin.
Bailey also confirmed that Will Smith will take on the role of Genie, made famous by Robin Williams in the 1992 animated classic.
Aladdin became a trending topic last week following reports of Disney's difficulty in casting the lead roles.
In other Disney live-action news, Emily Blunt flew into the D23 Expo with director Rob Marshall to discuss Mary Popping Returns, the sequel to the classic 1962 film Mary Poppins.
Blunt said it was a daunting task to step into the famed nanny role made famous by Julie Andrews.
"No one is ever going to out-Julie, Julie Andrews," said Blunt, from the stage. "There’s no one like her. I had to do my own version of her."
But Blunt said she not only sings, but dances alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda who portrays a lamplighter Jack (a portion of his Hamilton star Miranda's cockney accent was displayed in a sizzle reel).
Backstage, Blunt called Marshall "the sweet assassin. He is so kind, but he will make you do it a thousand times until it's perfect. So that's what we did."
Marshall promised of Blunt: "There's no one else that could play this part on the planet, she brings everything to it. She sings, she dances. And she's British."
Marshall showed footage of the music coming to theaters Dec. 25, 2018. The footage included Dick Van Dyke, who starred in the original film as cockney Bert, hoofing a dance on a desk. At 91.
Director Jon Favreau showed the first stunning scenes from his live action The Lion King. The scene featured the live-action version of the iconic scene, when mandrill Rafiki introduces an adorable young Simba on Pride Rock, as Circle of Life plays.
The scene even included Simba giving an adorable baby lion sneeze, just like in the original.
The Lion King comes to theaters July 19, 2019.
Sean Bailey, Walt Disney president of production, also confirmed a live-action project featuring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, called Jungle Cruise.
