The Little Mermaid is Disney’s latest remake but it took a lot longer to reach $500 million at the box office compared to its predecessors. Disney has been remaking all of their classic animated movies since 1994 with The Jungle Book, although this has since been remade again in 2016. 2010’s Alice in Wonderland could be considered the start of the recent outpouring of live-action remakes from Disney, as 17 remakes have been made since then. Disney’s live-action remakes are controversial as audiences are not keen on their favorite animated movies being remade but some have become big box office successes.
The Little Mermaid had a lot of unfair backlash around it due to Disney casting a black actor, Halle Bailey, in the role of Ariel. Bailey’s casting has proved to be perfect with reviews hailing the actor and her singing. The Little Mermaid has received very good Rotten Tomatoes scores from both critics and audiences, yet its box office has not reflected that. There was some concern about the CGI use of animals, something The Lion King was slated for, but even Flounder and Sebastian were commended and the remake as a whole was deemed a success.
How Long Other Disney Remakes Took To Make $500m Compared To The Little Mermaid
Disney Live-Action Remake
Days Taken To Reach $500 Million
Total Worldwide Box Office
The Lion King (2019)
10
$1,656,943,394
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
8
$1,263,521,126
The Jungle Book (2016)
10
$966,550,600
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
17
$1,025,467,110
Aladdin (2019)
15
$1,050,693,953
Maleficent (2014)
24
$758,410,378
Cinderella (2015)
54
$542,351,353
The Little Mermaid (2023)
32
$503,060,882 (so far)
The Little Mermaid’s box office has taken just over a month to reach $500 million worldwide, which does not seem horrendous but is not nearly Disney’s best performance. Beauty and the Beast takes that spot as it hit half a billion on its second weekend, only its 8th day of release. Aside from Cinderella, which took 54 days to reach $500 million, all of Disney’s live-action remakes which have it $500 million have done so in under 24 days, and four movies did it in 10 days or less.
Cinderella did not make much more than $500 million, hitting $542,351,353 overall so it can be classed as an anomaly against the other live-action remakes. The Disney live-action remakes which did reach the half-a-billion mark quickly went on to reach over $1 billion or get close enough. Although The Little Mermaid has beaten many of Disney’s other live-action remakes, the length of time taken for it to reach $500 million compared to its predecessors suggests it will not manage much more at the box office.
Why The Little Mermaid Took So Long To Make $500 Million & Disappointed At The Box Office
The Little Mermaid has been a hit with audiences and critics so it is strange that its box office has not reflected that, although there are multiple reasons why. Firstly, the backlash surrounding The Little Mermaid has meant some may have refused to watch it in theaters. Forgetting the movie is a reimagining, some audiences were against casting a Black actor as Ariel so may have boycotted the movie to reflect that. Thankfully, this idea has not impacted the movie too harshly and most people have loved Bailey’s version of Ariel. Another reason is that audiences are bored of Disney’s live-action remakes.
Disney’s live-action remakes were exciting when they first started and told new stories of beloved characters, such as Maleficent and Alice in Wonderland. It also didn’t help that the visuals for The Little Mermaid, particularly the underwater scenes, looked drab and unfinished in the marketing campaign. The biggest issue for theatrical performance is streaming services. Disney+ shot to popularity in 2020, and none of its remakes since then have hit the $500 million mark. Knowing movies will soon release on streaming puts audiences off from going to the cinema. The Little Mermaid’s box office is excellent compared to Disney’s post-streaming service launch so could still be considered a theatrical success.
Source: Box Office Mojo
