Good News Everyone, Will Smith's Genie Raps In Disney's Live-Action Aladdin

For all of the positives of Guy Ritchie's Aladdin casting an all Arabic cast (aside for a couple of notable characters, it's struggled for good publicity since its first reveals. Thanks in part to a bad decision only to reveal Will Smith in human form and then a poor first trailer, it took a fair amount of heat in the early stages.

Things have changed a little now thanks to some better footage, but it's definitely fair to say that the film is struggling to pick up as much hype as The Lion King and other live-action Disney remakes have previously.

What possibly won't help those who are a little cynical about the project - and particularly Smith's performance (which, remember, is having to work against Robin Williams' iconic animated performance) - is the revelation from Disney's CinemaCon presentation that Smith is using his rapping background.

Thanks to descriptions that have appeared online since the presentation, we now know that the footage shown included a shortened version of the Cave Of Wonders sequence culminating in the Genie's rendition of "Friends Like Me."

On top of the old lyrics, it turns out that the Genie will add in some free-styling, beatboxing and boasts about his rapping skills. If you're already concerned about it, that's not going to help. But at least the sequence sounds fun enough for more positive potential fans...