Disney is developing a reimagining of One Thousand and One Nights aka Arabian Nights for the big screen. The film will be a live-action fantasy and sci-fi-infused movie inspired by the classic Middle Eastern folk tale collection. Arash Amel is attached to pen the script.
Plot details are kept under wraps but the film will be an original tale drawn from the ancient folk tales and will be a standalone IP. This means it will not be related to Disney’s Aladdin franchise, including the 2019 Aladdin live-action starring Will Smith, Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott.
It remains unknown which stories of One Thousand and One Nights will be adapted for the sci-fi spin, but with a talented screenwriter attached, the upcoming film may bring the classic tales to life in a way never seen before.
Amel previously wrote the Disney+ movie Rise, which was released exclusively on the streaming platform and was met with positive reviews. He also wrote and produced Netflix’s The Titan starring Sam Worthington (Avatar) and penned A Private War starring Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl).
Outside of the untitled One Thousand and One Nights project, Amel is currently in pre-production for Fred & Ginger, an Amazon Studios project he is producing and writing. Other upcoming projects include Snafu, an upcoming film starring Jackie Chan and John Cena, as well as The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare by director Guy Ritchie.
With the film still in its early stages of development, no official release date has been set for the One Thousand and One Nights adaptation.