The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

[Farerb]

Here’s the catch though: The physical 4K release will only be available in retail-exclusive SKUs, including one at Best Buy (in Steelbook packaging), one at Walmart (packed with a collectible pin), and the other at the Disney Movie Club (with a lithograph).

DMC Exclusive:

[Disney Duster]

I think I am going to buy this after all. It is the remake of my third favorite Disney movie. I will buy the steelbook. That is beautiful. It seems they took to heart the criticism Divinity and others had that the poster looked like the aftermath of a nuclear explosion and changed it to a sunset.

[Patricier21]

So......

Apparently no deleted scenes?! We know they obviously filmed the cut Triton song, And they did say They planned on including us, plus we also know the cut lyrics to poor unfortunate souls, does anyone else know of any other scenes that were filmed but cut?

Maybe it’s possible that they will be Disney+ or even digital exclusives, but for the latter they would’ve mentioned it here, not to mention that all of Rob Marshall’s previous movies had deleted scenes, including on Stranger tides which had the most 3-D Blu-ray exclusives and (currently) available on Disney+, even a deleted song for into the Woods and some for Mary Poppins returns. It’s very strange they’re not gonna be released here unless again it is possibly for Disney+ Exclusive......

[UmbrellaFish]

Oooh, I like the DMC exclusive cover, too! Thank you for sharing all these, Farerb! Usually I would just pick one, but it’s TLM so I think I’ll buy both the steelbook and the DMC exclusive.

[Disney's Divinity]

I don't like the DMC cover. The other covers do a better job disguising how ugly the tail / bra design here is. Yes, I do like that the steelbook changed the lighting of that image, it looks much better--the addition of Flounder, Sebastian, and Scuttle also helps. I'd have liked it in morning light or a moonlit version better though, the latter because of how similar it would be to one of the original film's posters of her on the rock in moonlight.

[DisneyFan09]

Gotta love the 4K Ultra HD Cover. It`s simply stunning! But it`s still a pity that there won`t be an Audio Commentary among the Bonus Features, since Rob Marshall have made them before.

[Disney's Divinity]

I agree, it's very stunning. Individual things about it I think I wouldn't like (such as the color of the title, all the empty white space, two Ariel's, etc.) just sort of work somehow altogether. The arrangement and/or the lighting just pulls it off?

It does remind me how disappointing Eric's castle is/was though. The standard cover seems to try to replicate a lot of the original poses with Ursula and Triton mirrored above Ariel, but it's just a dud without a palace between them.

[Vlad]

Indeed, it's very beautiful. I also like the DMC exclusive cover. It's so reminiscent of the 1997 teaser poster.

[Disney's Divinity]

I also noticed it was an attempt to imitate that poster. For me though, that shot's ugly whereas the original's poster is beautiful. Not simply a matter of the tail being a mess here, but the fact the pose is more curled at the end rather than a straight diagonal pose the full way there. And the lack of the gorgeous lighting the animated film's poster had as well.

[Vlad]

You're right, Divinity. Just like the remake itself, the poster is a weaker copy of the original.

[Disney's Divinity]

^ Well, I /do/ think they could have imitated that shot in a way that was closer to that poster as far as lighting and pose at least, I don't think that would've been difficult even if the design of the tail itself is unfixable. I don't think that's expecting much when you look at some of the posters for other remakes that looks better than that.

[Sotiris]

Jodi Benson talks about the remake and Halle.

D23 Inside Disney Episode 193: Jodi Benson on The Little Mermaid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEIgeFam4_s

[Vlad]

^ Well, I /do/ think they could have imitated that shot in a way that was closer to that poster as far as lighting and pose at least, I don't think that would've been difficult even if the design of the tail itself is unfixable. I don't think that's expecting much when you look at some of the posters for other remakes that looks better than that.

Yeah, like having a wider shot, so she can reach her hands, just as the animated Ariel did on the teaser poster. And her tail can be stretched.

[VanessaFan]

One thing I noticed when I saw the original english version is that, unlike in the animated feature, Vanessa has Ariel's voice when she's singing and speaking, but in this one, it's Jessica Alexander's own voice when she's yelling at the attack of her. Shouldn't that be Halle's voice as in Ariel's? That was one cool thing about the original, as Jodi also voiced Vanessa. I think Melissa did the "You're Too Late", at least the first one. I'm having doubts about the second one.

Also, another mistake I noticed is in the end of Part of Your World. Ariel swims up, reaches through the hole and then we see her face as sings the last of the song. But she doesn't swim down or falls down, she's still at the top of the hole, but then the camera zooms out and suddenly she's sitting at the bottom again. Did anyone else notice this?

[PatchofBlue]

Also, another mistake I noticed is in the end of Part of Your World. Ariel swims up, reaches through the hole and then we see her face as sings the last of the song. But she doesn't swim down or falls down, she's still at the top of the hole, but then the camera zooms out and suddenly she's sitting at the bottom again. Did anyone else notice this?

I noticed that too.

The way that segment is filmed is interesting. In the animated film, we get a "wide shot" of Ariel falling, but in the remake, it's framed with not just a close-up of Halle's face, but the background is also completely darkened out until the last notes of the song. That's when the camera widens and the light returns and we see that Ariel's back on the sea floor. I think the film is hoping that we'll assume that Ariel is actually descending during final lines of the song, it's just happening when the background is all blackened out.

What it feels like is Marshall decided that filming Ariel falling during the last lines would be too complicated to film for some reason, so they just chose a hyper-stylized filming approach to work around it.

[Sotiris]

Seventh weekend box office numbers.

The Little Mermaid (Dis) 2,080 (-350) theaters, Fri $1.1M (-29%) Sat $1.4M Sun $1M 3-day $3.5M (-34%) Total $289M Wk 7

Source: https://deadline.com/2023/07/box-office ... 235431682/

Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” occupied second position with £25.4 million and is the fifth-biggest release of the year so far, and is poised to cross “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish” (£25.8 million).

Source: https://variety.com/2023/film/box-offic ... 235664979/

Rounding off the top five was Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” which splashed to £490,836 for a total of £25.9 million.

Source: https://variety.com/2023/film/box-offic ... 235666479/


Eighth weekend box office numbers.

The Little Mermaid (Dis) 1,615 (-465) theaters, Fri $675K (-38%) 3-day $2.2M (-40%) Total $293.7M/ Wk 8

Source: https://deadline.com/2023/07/box-office ... 235434821/

The Little Mermaid (Dis) 1,615 (-465) theaters, Fri $675K Sat $950K Sun $725K 3-day $2.35M (-36%) Total $293.9M/ Wk 8

Source: https://deadline.com/2023/07/mission-im ... 235439165/

[Disney's Divinity]

I was looking to see if perhaps they had the steelbook for the remake available for pre-order to see what the price might be, and found this listing. It's listed as a new steelbook for the original 1989 film, to be released 10/3/23 (a couple of weeks after the remake comes out). I wonder what the cover will be--just the silver 100th anniversary cover or something? Or maybe it's going to be a release that combines the original with the remake into a 2-pack version maybe?

It would be nice if it was simply a special steelbook release of the original to coincide with the remake's release and it has a pretty, new cover. Personally, I was hoping the next release TLM eventually got would use the original poster of them around the palace this time (since the poster of Ariel swimming to the surface has been used as a cover in the past already, twice I think, the other one deserves a chance). Similar to this mock-up artwork.

[Disney Duster]

VanessaFan, you are right about Vanessa's voice, but I think Disney wanted to avoid having a black voice come from a white girl unless she is singing. I know, why is the singing ok but not the talking? Hard to describe.

PatchofBlue, maybe you are right!

Divinity, you want the cover of a new home video release to be...a poster that was 99% the same as the cover of an earlier home video release?

[Disney's Divinity]

They made another Funko Pop for the film for the San-Diego Comic Con event. It's almost a re-creation of the Ariel pop from several years back, with the whole clear holder. When you have things that look so similar in their pose like that and even the DMC cover v. the John Alvin poster, it really only highlights how ugly the tail is. I read someone over at blu-ray.com react that the random red part of the tail makes it look like she has some kind of disease and her scales are falling off.

[Disney Duster]

The TLM remake tail is gorgeous.