Disney’s latest live-action adaptation pulled a reverse Fast X, as while it did quite well domestically, its international box office is a very different story. Still, The Little Mermaid has opened to $163.8M globally through Sunday and now stands at $117M+ over its four-day opening weekend. There’s a chance it’ll still hit $119M but that’s still slightly off from the initial expectation of it to go beyond the $121M+ range after that strong Friday opening.
The film has an A CinemaScore rating and word-of-mouth should’ve been in its favor, but there are always external factors that you might not expect to have their influence on performances. We saw it with families not showing up until the summer box office kicked off and the film still passed Aladdin’s $91.3M three-day weekend.
Disney put a big gamble into this film being a massive success with a variety of promotional tie-ins, which makes it probably their biggest for a non-tentpole IP from their subsidiaries. The issue is that its overseas performance is a bit questionable for the film’s chance of pushing to compete with Aladdin‘s long-term box office. That film went on to pass a billion but it’s uncertain with this remake.
The Little Mermaid overall had an international box office of $68.3M by Sunday, which put it at $163.8M excluding the Memorial Day Monday. The problem is the film is facing some harsh right-wing review bombings in multiple countries. IMDb’s of the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Brazil alongside AlloCiné in France have warned that their systems are seeing irregular activities.
China has also shown a rather harsh reaction to the film. Maoyan has no audience score which is very unusual. The film is likely to just pull in $4M which is not a good sign after Fast X and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 finally re-awakened some trust with Western releases in that market. So, we will have to see just how much the domestic market can hold carry the film if it was front-loaded on Friday.
It looks like TheLittle Mermaid is going to continue the box office performance of Disney’s live-action adaptations of their beloved animated classics. While the internet continues to groan about the existence of taking an iconic animated fair and trying to put a realistic lens over it (as much as possible, poor Flounder), it does seem like audiences are continuing to eat it up as much as they can. The film pulled in a mighty $30M on Saturday after a $38M on Friday (including previews), which is on par with the Aladdin adaptation and is on its path to a strong Memorial Day weekend.
As of now, it seems that the film will pull in around $97M+ in three days and wrap up the four-day weekend at $121M+. It seems the film boasted an 80M-worth global promo partnership that makes it one of the biggest for a non-Lucasfilm or Marvel Cinematic Universe cooperation. After being quite absent throughout the early parts of the year, it seems families are finally going back to theaters. That A CinemaScore is definitely also doing its job for strong word-of-mouth.
Fast X is losing quite a bit of speed, as it is dropping around 67% in its second 3-day weekend which would rival any of the previous Marvel entries from the previous years. That on a soft $67.5M hurts far more than any of the frontloaded Marvel movies and perhaps continues to showcase that the current superhero fatigue is likely more than meets the eye given Transformers‘ latest entry isn’t coming in as hot as one would hope for such a mega tentpole franchise.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is still hanging in there with a strong 26.6M over the four-day weekend. That’s just a 36% drop and further highlights that it’s all about keeping fans coming back to theaters. While some will call this an exception to the rule, the film still opened softer and positive word-of-mouth will keep the genre kicking. If The Flash manages to pull in a strong audience, it’ll also carry over into November’s release of The Marvels and so forth.
Overall though, counterprogramming for this week isn’t doing what it should do as Machine and About My Father are falling a bit short. They both highlight the issue that grew out of the pandemic’s streaming focus that hit big films as well with mixed word-of-mouth scores: there’s a strong distinction between “what I’ll watch in theaters” and “I’ll wait to check it out on streaming eventually” mentalities than ever before. Big thank you to Disney+’s 45-day release window and Warner Bros.’ day-and-date strategy for that.
Disney’s live-action reimagining of the 1989 animated classic, The Little Mermaid, looks set to have one of the top five Memorial Day box office takes of all time with experts predicting as much as $125M. Critics have given the film mostly positive reviews and given it a thumbs up as a worthy companion to the beloved original. Now, following its opening night, audiences have given their opinion.
After taking in the film on its first Friday, audiences have spoken loud and clear about where they stand on the remaining with it grading out with an A according to Cinemascore.
Critics and audiences seem to agree that the film, carried by the strong performance Halle Bailey as Ariel, stands tall among Disney’s efforts to reimagine its catalog of animated classics. That’s good news for the studio whose Disney Plus release of Peter Pan & Wendy certainly didn’t catch the same positivity.
The Little Mermaid is set to continue Disney’s trend of bringing their beloved animated classics to a new generation in live-action. It’s not an easy task and while there have been many discussions on if it truly played out for the studio, there’s a lot of hope with the talents behind this project that it’ll stand out from what came before.
During the official press conference for the Disney remake, Jonah Hauer-King, who plays Prince Eric, got a chance to share what he believes makes this version of the iconic romance between his character and Ariel stand out from the original. He highlights that it’s “friendship” and how they tackle what connects these characters rather than the love at first sight trope.
Friendship, I think. Disney romances are always, you know, they’re filled with that instinctive attraction to one another. We all wanna see that. But I think what was fun about this, and I think a lot of it came from our off-screen selves as well, was looking at Ariel and Eric as two people who were kindred spirits. Who felt a little bit restless, who felt like they were behind the four walls of their respective castles, and were very much looking outwards and not in.
Jonah Hauer-King
It’s definitely a great move to add a bit more depth to their romance by having them share a common theme. Ariel’s journey is all about going beyond the world she knows, and having Eric reflect that on the surface adds a little something extra to give more insight into what connects them.
And I think what was nice about that was that it meant that their relationship feels really earnt. They both felt like they were teaching each other things. They were excited and fascinated by each other’s worlds although they didn’t actually know it until the end.
Jonah Hauer-King
Of course, it’s one thing saying that this was their approach and something pushed further by their bond behind the scenes, the challenge will definitely be in how they showcase it for viewers. The Little Mermaid’s remake will be longer than the original and they might make use of that additional time to add a bit more depth to the story and just give them more time to share their experiences.
Disney’s live-action reimagining of the beloved 1989 animated musical fantasy, The Little Mermaid, has been fairly warmly received as one of the studio’s best efforts in their quest to remake every animated film in their catalog. Rather than directly adapting the animated classic shot-for-shot, director Rob Marshall and the production team, which included Lin-Manuel Miranda and John DeLuca, looked for ways to make the live-action version a “completely original confection” and a “massive musical” that still captured the heart of the story.
For the new film, that meant more music, bigger swings and helping the stars of the project find their comfort zone and their voices to make the audience feel like they were seeing something new. That’s no small task given that not only is it a reimagining of one of Disney’s most popular films but also based on a nearly 200-year-old fairy tale. Surprisingly enough, as Marshall revealed at the global press junket for The Little Mermaid, it was revisiting Hans Christian Andersen‘s 1837 story that helped the production team find the foundation of their film in one very famous quote.
But a mermaid has no tears and therefore she suffers so much more
“Well, it’s so interesting ’cause the first thing that John and I did when we actually started this journey was to go back to the Hans Christian Andersen tale to understand where it all came from,” said Marshall of the famous quote that is shown on screen as the film opens. “We were immediately aware of how this was a very contemporary story already in the 1830s about this young girl who feels displaced and wants to, you know, go on a journey of self-discovery, you know, to another world. And so, for me, [clears throat] the quote, to be able to find something from Hans Christian Andersen specifically, so we sort of ground this in where it came from, was important to us, to find something from him. And this, you know, it’s the most sort of famous quote from the tale.”
That quote turned into one of the film’s prevalent themes and was emoted wonderfully by Ariel actress Halle Bailey. According to Marshall, adapting the story to live-action actually aided in realizing the Andersen quote. “And I have to say that because we were bringing, I think, more depth and emotion, which you can in a live-action piece. You know, that’s what this genre helps you do,” he explained. The idea that, because a mermaid has no tears, and she feels more, she suffers more, it felt to us like it set the table for this more emotional telling of the story.” Bailey’s performance has been roundly praised by critics as elevating the overall quality of the film, including the strong emotional performance delivered when the character is without a voice. Audiences can see Bailey’s emotional performance for themselves as The Little Mermaid is now previewing in theaters ahead of tomorrow’s wide release.
While all eyes are on the performance of Halle Bailey as Ariel, there’s a talented cast that has the challenge of bringing some iconic characters to life, especially the iconic songs that made The Little Mermaid what it was. Melissa McCarthy will be the one to bring us “Poor Unfortunate Souls” as the iconic Ursula. Some trailers have already teased her performance as the underwater witch, she got a chance to share the challenges of playing the character in live-action.
Animation doesn’t have any restrictions on how a character is brought to life. So, you can much easier imagine someone with multiple limbs swimming around while singing. In the case of McCarthy, the actress had the challenge of constantly floating with a rig as revealed during the film’s official press event. She does share one funny moment that did happen the one time she touched anything while acting.
I slipped on the clam shell occasionally, on my back, but I was never literally on my feet. We were either up in rigs or, you know, there were all different magical things. You know, if you were diving, it was one rig. If you were spinning, it was another. But no, never on the ground.
Melissa McCarthy
It must’ve been fun just hanging around from a rig while acting out your soul or even singing. She sadly doesn’t share what that was like, it’s still interesting to know just what kind of movie magic they used to ensure Ursula stays as true as possible to the original film from 1989.
Disney’s live-action retelling of The Little Mermaid has opened to largely positive reviews most of which sing the praises of Halle Bailey, who bring Ariel to life with “the innocence and eye for mischief that the story needs to propel its plot forward.” Bringing one of Disney’s most beloved princesses to life was no small task but it is one that director Rob Marshall believed Bailey capable of immediately upon meeting her.
“I mean, here’s the thing. The first actor we saw for this role was Halle,” said Marshall. “The first thing she did is she came in and sang for us. And she sang that song [Part of Your World]. She shut her eyes and started to sing the song. And I thought, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” explained the director who most recently worked with Disney to helm 2018’s Mary Poppins Returns and 2014’s Into the Woods, two films which also featured plenty of singing.
However, while both Marshall’s prior films with the studio included familiar tunes, “Part of Your World” is iconic even among Disney’s vaunted catalog but according to the director, Bailey’s rendition was so good, that he knew he had found his Ariel after just a few minutes. “I just thought she’s so deeply connected to what she’s singing about. It’s so emotional. It’s so beautiful,” said Marshall before adding, “And I thought, [laugh] oh my gosh, we’ve been doing this for five minutes. Have we found Ariel?”
Despite being blown away by Bailey, Marshall stayed true to the casting process, auditioning “hundreds” of other actors for the part before returning to Bailey. “But then we saw hundreds of other actors after that,” said Marshall. Bailey continued to move through each round of cuts, according to the director, before it finally became clear the job was hers. “Halle kept coming back in,”he said, “and we saw every ethnicity. We saw everybody. And she claimed the role for hers.” Audiences will have a chance to catch Bailey’s performance for themselves soon as The Little Mermaid opens in theaters on May 26th.
The original version of The Little Mermaid is widely regarded as the film that kicked off Disney’s animated renaissance. Back in 1989, the studio wasn’t the box office juggernaut it is today, with lucrative franchises in its grasp like Infinity Stones, so you can imagine how now, 34 years later, expectations are through the roof for the latest in a long line of mixed reviewed, but fairly reliable box office performers drawing from the creative well of that period. And charitably, one could attribute some of the negativity around this updated original to fans who cling to nostalgia amidst the tempest that is modern media criticism. It’s hard to say whether diehard fans of the original will give the 2023 version of The LittleMermaid a fair shake, but viewed through the lens of today, it’s a delightful, all-ages romp with heart, humor, and a hopeful message about seeing past our differences and forging peaceful understanding.
Off top, Halle Bailey‘s Princess Ariel brings vocal ability to the role that’s undeniable, and in her acting performance, she captures the innocence and eye for mischief that the story needs to propel its plot forward. The longing in her rendition of “Part Of Your World” helps to economically convey not only her curiosity about the surface world but the notion that her destiny lies beyond the shoreline. And when (spoiler alert) Ms. Bailey has to deliver a voiceless performance, her physical and facial acting ensures that we remain in touch with her POV.
But with Jonah Hauer-King‘s Prince Eric, however, the story forces the audience to have to work a bit harder to get to his center. Yes, we’re introduced to an almost textbook romantic lead, with an appetite for danger and a heroic heart (and of course he has an adorable pet upper!). And yes, his love for the spoils of the underwater world mirrors Ariel’s love for the surface, and he too feels restricted by responsibility. But were it not for the chemistry between the two leads that crackles whenever they’re paired, a viewer might find him a little too flimsy to be a compelling partner for our Ariel. But sometimes, part of being a heartthrob is being enough of a cipher that desirable qualities can be projected upon you…and smiling nice. So 10/10 in that respect.
Ursula the Sea Witch is one of the more iconic Disney villains, and I’d imagine that for most fans, how they feel about her will sink or sail this film for them. Melissa McCarthy chews the seaweeded scenery here, and while it certainly felt like there were additional levels of menace yet to reach, she made for an entertaining antagonist who made her rendition of “Poor Unfortunate Souls” her own, in one of the film’s standout musical numbers.
Speaking of standout musical numbers, the scene-stealers in this film were Daveed Diggs‘ Sebastian the Crab and Awkwafina‘s Scuttle the Seagull. The Grammy-winning “Under The Sea” is the original’s signature song, and Daveed puts his all into delivering a version that is worthy of comparison to Samuel E. Wright‘s classic. Awkwafina, on the other hand, performs a Lin-Manuel Miranda original that is an absolute bop. And comedically, the chemistry and banter between the two characters were great. As comic relief sidekicks go, the two were top-tier. Sign me up for a spinoff!
Alongside the winning soundtrack, the visuals of the film were also a highlight, one that unfortunately the trailers didn’t do justice. While certainly there are dark and murky moments in the early going, they’re meant to create a sense of mystery and danger that contrasts with the vibrance and wonder of the undersea. But once we’re on dry land in earnest, the bright Caribbean setting and the variety of flavors in director Rob Marshall‘s visual palette allow us to enjoy the excursion alongside Ariel and experience a different kind of wonder. And that all culminates in another amazing musical sequence, “Kiss The Girl,” where water and land life alike try to bring our leads together in romance.
Overall, everything works. King Triton, played admirably by Javier Bardem, strikes the right notes of distrustful dad who lays down the law a little too forcefully, and Norma Dumezweni‘s Queen Selina is appropriately regal, but frustrated by her son’s childish love of trifles, yet supportive of his search for true romantic love. And as the rising action puts the two figures into conflict, their respective sympathetic performances keep us buoyed long enough for a satisfying resolution.
Obviously, like many Disney movies, the ending might be a bit too tidy and the victories might feel a tad unearned. However, as family-friendly films go, that can be forgiven when it’s a fun time in the cinema that makes you smile and laugh throughout and leaves you feeling good at the end. It’s best not to compare it beat by beat to the original, and to appreciate it as a film that puts its own spin on a familiar story. On that level, it works as one of the Disney live-action retellings you can love alongside its animated counterpart.
On Friday, Disney unveiled a sneak peek at its forthcoming The Little Mermaid remake starring Halle Bailey at D23. The short clip released on social media showed brought viewers on a journey through the ocean, showcasing the stellar CGI work done on the sealife and water, while also offering a quick glimpse of Bailey as Ariel and her vocals on “Part of Your World” for the film. Since its release online, the teaser has amassed over 104 million views, per Variety.
It’s an impressive feat on its own, but especially when looking back at the teaser views of some of Disney’s other live-action remakes. Cruella, for example, pulled in 68 million views, while Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin pulled in 94 million views and 74 million views, respectively. Even more impressive is that these numbers do not include views from the U.K., Ireland or Australia. Both Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin proved to be huge successes, surpassing the $1 billion mark at the box office.
While there were some people who responded negatively to the teaser, for atrocious reasons, the overall response online has been positive. Celebrities such as Zendaya, Halle Berry, and Keke Palmer have shared the teaser online along with their excitement. While many viewers have also released heartwarming reaction videos of their young children responding to Bailey as Ariel, showcasing their elation because Ariel looked like them.
The Little Mermaid is directed by Rob Marshall and stars Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, ArtMalik, Noma Dumezweni, Javier Bardem and Melissa McCarthy. Also part of the cast are Daveed Diggs, Jacob Tremblay, and Awkwafina, who all lend their voices to characters in the film. The movie swims into theaters on May 23rd, 2023.
It looks like the upcoming live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid will include four brand new songs that still have the same feeling as the original, as revealed by director Rob Marshall during the D23 panel for Disney’s future slate. Here’s a statement by director Marshall as shared by THR’s Borys Kit from the panel on how fond he is of the original film and why he wants to stay true to it:
When it opened in 1989…musicals were gone. Even though it was animated, we could hear people singing at movies again.
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