The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

[Disney Duster]

Nomad2010, Ursula had to say in some part of the script that Ariel would lose her voice. The lyrics that got cut from "Poor Unfortunate Souls" do talk about her voice, but if we hear her say all that stuff about men not wanting women to speak and it not costing much, just her voice...that comes out of nowhere without a mention of her losing her whole voice in some dialogue before those lines!

Patricier21, Ursula says Ariel will lose her siren SONG. If she was going to take Ariel's entire voice and not just her song, that is not clever tricking, it is outright lying by omission. It's as stupid as how she makes Ariel forget about the whole deal! It's not clever, it's dumb!

PatchofBlue, Ursula says she will take away Ariel's siren song, not voice, meaning she isn't telling Ariel she is taking away her whole ability to speak...but she does anyway.

[Patricier21]

Nomad2010, Ursula had to say in some part of the script that Ariel would lose her voice. The lyrics that got cut from "Poor Unfortunate Souls" do talk about her voice, but if we hear her say all that stuff about men not wanting women to speak and it not costing much, just her voice...that comes out of nowhere without a mention of her losing her whole voice in some dialogue before those lines!

Patricier21, Ursula says Ariel will lose her siren SONG. If she was going to take Ariel's entire voice and not just her song, that is not clever tricking, it is outright lying by omission. It's as stupid as how she makes Ariel forget about the whole deal! It's not clever, it's dumb!

PatchofBlue, Ursula says she will take away Ariel's siren song, not voice, meaning she isn't telling Ariel she is taking away her whole ability to speak...but she does anyway.

But that’s just the kind of character that Ursula is, and it’s also clever that she would make Ariel forget About the whole ordeal so that way then she couldn’t kiss Eric earlier such as the day after they were out in town, as it would’ve been way too easy for her. That’s actually something you could almost say about the original as well……

[Vlad]

I have seen so many posts about the movie on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, claiming how awesome its worldwide gross is. It's so much worse than Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. If I'm not mistaken, it's made more or less the same as Maleficent - Mistress of Evil. Other things I have seen are comparisons between the Part of your world (Reprise) moments in both movies. On Tik Tok, so many people say the moment in the remake is a lot better. Why? It is well-made, but it's so creepy...the way she creeps on the rock until the big wave moment is so awkward. I mean, I respect their opinion, but...just no.

Another thing is that on Tik Tok, people say the remake is a lot better, because it solves "problems" that the original had. I mean, how? It's exactly the same story, with minor tweaks here and there, but the main story is identical.

[carolinakid]

Wishful thinking is all I can fathom.

The box office facts speak otherwise.

The rest is all opinion. And you know what they say about opinions....

[Thumper_93]

I have seen so many posts about the movie on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, claiming how awesome its worldwide gross is. It's so much worse than Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. If I'm not mistaken, it's made more or less the same as Maleficent - Mistress of Evil. Other things I have seen are comparisons between the Part of your world (Reprise) moments in both movies. On Tik Tok, so many people say the moment in the remake is a lot better. Why? It is well-made, but it's so creepy...the way she creeps on the rock until the big wave moment is so awkward. I mean, I respect their opinion, but...just no.

Another thing is that on Tik Tok, people say the remake is a lot better, because it solves "problems" that the original had. I mean, how? It's exactly the same story, with minor tweaks here and there, but the main story is identical.

I totally agree with that. She looks angry in this scene. It's one of the things that I didn't like from this movie.
The box office is a normal one. It is true that the movie has much competiton (every week a new blockbuster is beeing released). It is normal that it doesn't make much money.

[PatchofBlue]

I caught the film for a second time last night, and a few things stood out to me.

I shared before that it wasn't totally clear whether Eric was in full possession of his faculties when he "falls" for Vanessa. In the animated film it's very clear that he's under a spell, in the remake, it's kind of suggested. Like, yeah, you see a little bit of a glow in his eyes, but it's still vague whether that's actually a mark of Ursula's spell or if it's just purely decorative. Especially since Eric acts much more lucid in the remake, and there isn't a clear moment where we see the spell being broken.

I listened more carefully this time around, and just before Ariel and Eric almost kiss, Ariel does in fact have a throwaway line where she tells us explicitly "You were bewitched." So, I guess we are to assume that Eric was in fact under a spell here as well, even if the film obscures that a little.

Ursula does also say "siren song" instead of "siren voice," BUUUUUT ... I kinda missed that this version of "Poor Unfortunate Souls" does not cut the line "it won't cost much/just your VOICE." And I think we're meant to assume that the characters have connected that this means Ariel won't be able to speak. About two minutes after Ariel's transformed, Flounder is explaining to Scuttle that "the sea-witch took Ariel's voice!", and even before the climax of "For the First Time," you have characters like Luciana remarking how the poor girl can't say a single word.

I think the intended impact of Ariel's big moment in "For the First Time" is that while she knew was giving up her voice when she made her deal with Ursula, she didn't fully appreciate what it would be like to see Eric but not be able to speak.

To that point, I really am starting to like that number. While I have enjoyed a few of the added songs for the remake, I feel like "For the First Time" does the best job at taking a moment or idea from the animated film and successfully, meaningfully translating it into a whole new musical number, one that the rest of the story doesn't have to slow down or make room for, and one that feels at home with the thread of the larger story.

And I know that the internet has kind of identified Bardem as the weakest link in this film, but I still like what he does. I feel like with these remakes, the tendency is for the actors to play the "overthetop" version of the character that the actor thinks younger audiences will go for (see, the enchanted objects in "Beauty and the Beast" (2017) and Queen Latifah's Ursula in "The Little Mermaid Live"), but the result often feels like it would be too "cartoonish" in the animated film. Bardem eschews all of that and brings a sort of soberness and gravity to his performance in a way that feels not only in line with the character he is playing but also what I specifically want from these remakes.

There are still things that bother me about this remake. Some of the issues I had with "Beauty and the Beast" still find their way here, even if they are significantly toned down. Like, the film can't help but defer to buzzfeed brand criticism, leading to some weird plot points like Ursula's amnesia clause. The pacing is a little uneven, particularly in the first half. And I do feel like the film would have been stronger if it had let itself go off book just a little more. There are entire passages within the film where the dialogue is translated like 85% identical to the animated film, which I find really distracting.

But this is still handily one of the strongest remakes we've gotten. I was still tearing up in the final scene where the merpeople and the kingdom folk all gather on the shore to see Ariel and Eric off. It actually kinda makes me wish that Disney would go back and redo some of their other remakes that weren't as on-point so more of their animated canon could have the honor of a remake that actually complements them.

(No. I take that back. Enough with the remakes. I can't do this much longer. Please! NOOOOOOOOOOO ...)

[Disney's Divinity]

I actually didn't mind the part where she's moving from rock to rock, I just thought it was odd she was sort of shaking. I think she was trying to make Ariel seem as if she was SO emotional that she was convulsing almost because she couldn't contain her passion. But I don't like the moment of the splash or the key change.

[Sotiris]

‘Barbie’ Glamming Up For $80M-$100M Opening With Presales Bigger Than ‘Little Mermaid’
https://deadline.com/2023/06/barbie-opp ... 235427370/

[Sotiris]

Sixth weekend box office numbers.

The pic earned $273.2 million to date in North America, the third best-showing of the summer season so far domestically behind Guardians 3 ($352.2 million) and Sony’s hit Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ($323.2 million). Little Mermaid, however, has underwhelmed overseas, in part because of a racist backlash over casting a Black actress as Ariel. The film’s current foreign tally is $229.8 million (it’s not uncommon for Hollywood event titles to earn far more offshore).

Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 235523996/

Disney’s The Little Mermaid ends Week 5 at 3,275 theaters with $14.2M after a $1.2M Thursday, also -12% for a running total on the Rob Marshall-directed musical of $275.8M. While his Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is his highest-grossing movie ever at $1.05 billion, stateside that title belongs to Little Mermaid.

The Little Mermaid (Dis) 2,430 (-845) theaters, Fri $1.55M (-42%) Sat $1.9M Sun $1.7M 3-day $5.15M (-37%)/Total $280.9M Wk 6

Source: https://deadline.com/2023/07/box-office ... 235427644/

The Little Mermaid (Dis) 2,430 (-845) theaters, Fri $1.56M Sat $1.87M Sun $1.95M Mon $1.4M Tues $1.35M 3-day $5.39M (-37%), 5-day $8.65M /Total $284.4M Wk 6

Source: https://deadline.com/2023/07/box-office ... 235429932/

Turning back to Disney, and after it crossed $500M global earlier this week, The Little Mermaid swam to a further $7.2M from 52 overseas markets, bringing the international cume to $242.8M and global to $523.8M. The offshore drop was 31% and the Top 5 markets are the UK ($31.2M), Mexico ($20.6M), Japan ($17.1M), Brazil ($16M) and Australia ($13.7M).

Source: https://deadline.com/2023/07/indiana-jo ... 235427838/

Among the top 20 grossing films of the year to date, Disney owns five of them: GOTG3 ($837M), Little Mermaid ($525M, No. 5), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ($476M at No. 6), Elemental at No. 12 with $188M and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny with $131M at No. 16.

Source: https://deadline.com/2023/07/disney-202 ... 235431049/

Ditto the studio’s $250 million-budgeted “The Little Mermaid,” which collected $7.2 million from 52 markets in its sixth weekend of release. So far, the Disney remake has amassed $242.8 million internationally and $523.8 million worldwide.

Source: https://variety.com/2023/film/box-offic ... 235660093/

In its sixth weekend, Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” earned £837,859 in fourth place for a total of £25 million.

Source: https://variety.com/2023/film/box-offic ... 235661106/

“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” is the latest big Hollywood movie to bomb in China, earning just $2.3 million over its opening weekend. It comes on the heels of “The Flash” earning just $25 million since opening three weekends ago as well as “The Little Mermaid” earning just $3.7 million after a month in theaters.

Source: https://www.thewrap.com/indiana-jones-d ... ox-office/

But for an example of how box office results can mean different things for theaters versus studios, look at Disney’s remake of “The Little Mermaid,” a film that recently crossed $500 million worldwide but carries a $250 million budget before marketing and has underperformed overseas compared to past Disney remakes. For theater chains, the running $283 million domestic total of “Little Mermaid” is one they will gladly take, as it currently stands fourth among all films this year. Among the films it has outgrossed are Lionsgate’s “John Wick: Chapter 4” and MGM’s “Creed III,” films that did turn a profit for their studios against their smaller budgets. Even if those films had more favorable ticket revenue split terms for theaters than Disney — such terms are kept confidential between studios and exhibitors — that strong turnout from “Little Mermaid” also brings valuable downstream revenue through increased concessions sales, which are the lifeblood of the theatrical business.

Source: https://www.thewrap.com/summer-box-offi ... s-studios/

[Thumper_93]

It's not going to reach 600 but they can still earning money with the merchandise If they release It on Disney+ before september because people is not going to loose the interest for this movie during this summer. If they wait more maybe they can lost the chance of sell more products.

[Vlad]

I actually saw a post on Instagram today that said that the Blu-ray will come out in September, the Digital most likely in August. They'll probably put it on Disney+ in September too.

[PatchofBlue]

Happy as I would be to have this movie on hand sooner, I think it's in the company's long-term best interest that they keep their movies, especially their tentpole movies, off Disney+ for longer. A lot of people have drawn attention to how Pixar and Disney animation are paying the price for Disney dumping all their movies on the service, and if they're going to prioritize their theatrical output again, they're going to have to commit to communicating with their audiences that if they want to see a film, their best option is to see it on the big screen, or else be content waiting for a long time. I think the initial window was something like 7 months pre-pandemic, which is about how long they waited for Avatar 2, which was a smart decision in my opinion.

[Disney Duster]

But that’s just the kind of character that Ursula is, and it’s also clever that she would make Ariel forget About the whole ordeal so that way then she couldn’t kiss Eric earlier such as the day after they were out in town, as it would’ve been way too easy for her. That’s actually something you could almost say about the original as well……

I would say Ursula not telling Ariel she was going to steal her whole voice, and that she made her forget about needing the kiss, makes Ursula more evil, but not more clever. They are not clever changes. And it would not have been too easy for Ariel to get the kiss. It took the song "Kiss the Girl" for that to almost happen.

[Patricier21]

But that’s just the kind of character that Ursula is, and it’s also clever that she would make Ariel forget About the whole ordeal so that way then she couldn’t kiss Eric earlier such as the day after they were out in town, as it would’ve been way too easy for her. That’s actually something you could almost say about the original as well……

I would say Ursula not telling Ariel she was going to steal her whole voice, and that she made her forget about needing the kiss, makes Ursula more evil, but not more clever. They are not clever changes. And it would not have been too easy for Ariel to get the kiss. It took the song "Kiss the Girl" for that to almost happen.

But like I said, the scene when they return after the day in the market, which is after the kiss the girl sequence, is where they very well could’ve done it and where Ariel knowing what she needs to do could very easily have done it there

[Disney Duster]

Well, I think Eric needed the romantic mood to kiss Ariel, like "Kiss the Girl" had. I guess I could see him kissing her goodnight at the part you are talking about, so, yeah, I can see a kiss maybe happening there, but he asked Grimsby what he should do about Ariel verses his mystery rescuer, showing he was still in love with his mystery rescuer in that moment, and maybe he wouldn't have wanted to "cheat" on his rescuer by kissing another girl.

[Sotiris]

More than its competitors, Disney can withstand some of its movies functioning as loss leaders. In addition to racking up ticket sales, the studio’s films are designed to boost interest in toys and theme parks. So although “The Little Mermaid” barely floated past the $500 million mark, the return of Ariel is helping to sell themed Legos, backpacks, dolls, bedding and nail polish.

“They may not make it at the box office, but Disney will make up for it in merchandise sales and the longevity of the property,” says Bock. “That’s a lot different than Paramount or Sony, who needs to make all their money back at the box office.”

Source: https://variety.com/2023/film/news/disn ... 235660409/

[Farerb]

Release Date: September 19

Digital: July 25

[Vlad]

They all look great, but that steelbook is beautiful. I also kinda like the disc art on the steelbook, with Ariel's tail and Ursula's tentacles, that's a nice touch.

[UmbrellaFish]

Is the Walmart cover also the standard 4K cover? Or a Walmart exclusive cover? I’m not a fan. The steelbook, OTOH, is gorgeous.

[Disney's Divinity]

The Walmart version for me, but the steelbook is pretty, too. Don't care for the standard.

I'm sure merch will maybe help them recoup costs, but longevity... The remakes never have longevity, and this didn't even do as well as the others.