‘The Little Mermaid’ Anticipates $110M for Its Opening

The Little Mermaid has been at the center of much entertainment news recently. The movie has been highlighted much for its casting choices—many fans have criticized Disney for its choice, claiming that it’s “pandering to woke audiences.” This is also a critique that has been encountered when it comes to the recent Disney Plus (Disney+) release, Peter Pan and Wendy, wherein actress Yara Shahidi was cast as Tinker Bell.

However, despite all of this negative press and opinions surrounding the movie The Little Mermaid, it appears the movie anticipates an incredibly successful opening weekend.

The Little Mermaid live-action remake stars Halle Bailey as Ariel, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, Javier Bardem as King Triton, Daveed Diggs as Sebastian, and Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric. The movie is directed by Chicago filmmaker Rob Marshall and features music and scores from Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

It follows Princess Ariel and her journey, but there have been a few changes to the movies that have come to light. Halle Bailey has mentioned, “Ariel doesn’t leave the ocean for a man,” and one song has been modified to mention consent as well. Both changes met with some amount of criticism from fans.

Despite all of this, it appears the movie is set to do very well, and be one of Disney’s biggest openers.

Deadline reported the film “officially landed on tracking… for what looks to be a $110M 4-day opening. That will land the movie among the top eight openings for the holiday.”

The outlet provided further context that Disney’s top opening at the Memorial Day weekend box office currently belongs to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) with $153M. The studio’s live-action of animated movie Aladdin debuted with a 4-day of $116.8M in 2019, before the pandemic.

It certainly looks to be a promising opening 4-day for the movie and is one that fans are clearly looking forward to!