You may know Matt Busch from his art featured in movies like Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones, Stranger Things, and the Star Wars universe. Now, he has written and directed his first film, Aladdin 3477: The Jinn of Wisdom, which is part of his Aladdin 3477 trilogy.
The films are set 1,500 years in the future in India and Asia and is based on the classic Arabian Nights tale.
“My dream was never just to work for George Lucas, which was awesome and I’m super grateful, but my dream was always to become George Lucas, I wanted to make my own story, my own sci-fi epic project,” Busch says.
Busch moved back from Los Angeles in the early 2000’s because he knew that Michigan would be the perfect place to build his empire and has been working on the project for the past 13 years.
“You see a lot of people wearing those shirts that say, ‘Detroit Hustles Harder’ and I love that because it’s so true,” he explains.
The filming, which was done in Michigan, took five years, and has been a very gratifying experience for Busch as everything finally comes together. All three movies were filmed at the same time, so the scenes were shot out of order and a lot of the actors and crew members were only on set for the scenes they needed to be in.
Busch says that “It’s really neat to see everyone’s reaction” since they are all seeing it come together for the first time as well.
“It’s just evolved and improved throughout the whole thing. So, after all this work, it definitely feels good to be on the other side of it, that’s for sure,” he adds.
Finding Inspiration
Busch has had the opportunity to travel the world and found inspiration for Aladdin 3477 at various destinations. During his travels, he decided it would be very interesting if the Princess in his film was from India and for Aladdin to be from Hong Kong.
“The Taj Mahal was so beautiful, and the people are so beautiful, I absolutely love India. I just thought that was a really cool aesthetic for her (the Princess),” Busch explains. While in Hong Kong, “there’s so many people and there’s cities on top of cities on top of cities, and I just thought that was a really cool aesthetic for Aladdin to be from Hong Kong.”
Busch launched his campaign for the films using Kickstarter. It was funded within the first eight hours, doubled in three days, tripled in a week, and quadrupled a few weeks ago.
People who backed the Kickstarter campaign can now earn prizes such as swag boxes and merchandise for the first film, and there is an opportunity for backers to level up and get deluxe rewards. They may even be invited to watch the first film with Busch in his mini theatre at home.
Busch is also holding a recreate my trailer contest during which contestants have the chance to show their artistic creativity by putting a personal twist on the Aladdin 3477 trainer. The awards for the competition include a grand prize of $2,000, rare merchandise, and gift cards from Celldweller.
“I’m looking forward to things outside the box that I didn’t even think of,” Busch says.
Aladdin 3477: The Jinn of Wisdom is set to come out sometime this year, and Busch is hoping for the second film to come out in another year or two.
“There will probably be screenings in the Detroit area. I’m sure there’ll be a premiere, there’ll probably be film festivals, film markets,” he says.
The Aladdin 3477 trilogy has been a great learning experience for Busch and won’t be the last films you see from him.
“I’m all about the growth, I’m a student for life and definitely learned a lot. I’m looking forward to the next films that I make,” he says. “I have so many ideas and so many things that I want to do.”
For more information about Aladdin 3477, or about Busch’s other work, visit his Kickstarter campaign. For more film and TV news in Metro Detroit, visit HourDetroit.com.
More Photos from the Film
Check out more images from the production of Aladdin 3477, courtesy of Matt Busch
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