Robin Williams' Genie returns in new special, and it's not AI

Robin Williams will return as Aladdin’s Genie in an upcoming Disney short-film, and it’s all original dialogue.

The legendary and late Robin Williams lent his voice to the now-iconic Genie from the Disney animated film, Aladdin, in 1992. It’s likely one of the first characters you think of when his name is mentioned and it’s still a wonderful performance so many years later.

Check out Once Upon A Studio below!

Now, Robin Williams will be reprising his role, nearly 10 years after his unfortunate passing.

The Genie will be one of over 500 beloved Disney characters returning for a new short film, Once Upon A Studio, which aims to celebrate the 100-year Anniversary of the company, a monumental milestone.

The cast will include a huge variety of characters, like Elsa, Winnie The Pooh, Moana, Cinderella, and of course Mickey and Minnie Mouse, amongst others. Animations will include a mixture of hand-drawn and CGI closely resembling their original appearances.

Robin Williams’ Genie will also be making an appearance, with all dialogue being 100% genuine, and not created through AI. This was apparently done by scouring the old audio files from Aladdin, and splicing together several lines of dialogue from the used script as well as outtakes.

Speaking about the task, Once Upon A Studio’s producer Bradford Simonsen said an important part was ensuring Williams’ estate was happy for his voice to be used, saying: “We tried to take them on the journey with us to say, 'We've got this very special short that we're doing. Robin as the genie means so much to so many people and we would really love to involve him.'”

Once their blessing was given, the team reportedly got to work on the voice lines, then moved on to the animation, which was done by Eric Goldberg, the animator who worked on Aladdin prior to its release.

It’s a heartwarming story, and great to see such an industry legend return to arguably one of their best characters.

Once Upon A Studio is available now on Disney+.

Topics: Disney, TV And Film