8 Movie Fan Theories That Were Confirmed By The Creators
7. The Peddler In Aladdin Is Actually The Genie
The Peddler is a character who appears briefly at the start of Aladdin, setting up the film's story by introducing the magical lamp and telling us how it "once changed the course of a young man's life".
For years, fans had assumed that this character was, in fact, the Genie - just in disguise. Given the fact that both characters were voiced by Robin Williams (and were both rather eccentric), this assumption seemed accurate, but with no official confirmation, there was no way to know for sure.
But in 2015, official confirmation arrived in the form of an interview with directors Ron Clements and John Musker, conducted by E! News. Here, Clements stated that the Peddler was always intended to be the Genie, and that an in-film revelation was originally planned:
"I saw something that speculates that the peddler at the beginning of Aladdin is the Genie. That's true! That was the whole intention, originally. We even had that at the end of the movie, where he would reveal himself to be the Genie... just through story changes and some editing, we lost the reveal at the end."
In the same interview, the directors also laughed off a rumour that Aladdin was set in a post-apocalyptic future. Spoil-sports.