The Little Mermaid (2023)

[Spartan Girl]

The soundtrack is out and here’s the full version of Poor Unfortunate Souls:

Yes, they do cut out the “body language” and “what men really want” bit, which is a shame because Melissa could have had a lot of fun with that, but using Ariel’s daddy issues to play her works too.

Anyway, on the whole, Melissa works. Nobody is Pat Carroll, so the best thing to do for Ursula is just let loose with your inner diva and have a blast, and Melissa understood that assignment.

And in case you’re wondering how they do Vanessa’s reprise:

Even without the lyrics, Halle still manages to sound evil. Wish she got to cackle too, but Melissa NAILS it.

Edited May 19, 2023 by Spartan Girl

[starri]

On 5/19/2023 at 7:48 AM, Spartan Girl said:

Anyway, on the whole, Melissa works. Nobody is Pat Carroll, so the best thing to do for Ursula is just let loose with your inner diva and have a blast, and Melissa understood that assignment.

If you can't have Pat Carroll or a drag queen, and Queen Latifah's already done it, I think that was as close as we could reasonably come.

[Trini]

Reviews are out; and I'm reading completely opposite reactions to the same aspects*, so it seems like if you're inclined to like this you will, and if you're looking for problems you'll find them.

*(Everyone seems to agree that Halle is great as Ariel, though.)

[Spartan Girl]

On 5/22/2023 at 10:31 AM, Trini said:

Reviews are out; and I'm reading completely opposite reactions to the same aspects*, so it seems like if you're inclined to like this you will, and if you're looking for problems you'll find them.

*(Everyone seems to agree that Halle is great as Ariel, though.)

Some of the negative reviews sound really petty. One “top critic” wrote was complaining how nothing looked like it was really underwater. And I suppose he gave the stupid Avatar sequel a glowing review. 🙄

[proserpina65]

The reviews for this movie have really not been great.  Halle Bailey has been universally praised and Melissa McCarthy has gotten good comments, but otherwise it looks like another dud live-action remake for Disney.  I hope Disney gives up; pretty much the only one which worked well was The Jungle Book.

[twoods]

Disney will keep making them as long as they make money off it it. Even the “duds” made half a billion in the box office. I’ve enjoyed most of the live action movies.

[proserpina65]

On 5/23/2023 at 4:17 PM, twoods said:

Disney will keep making them as long as they make money off it it. Even the “duds” made half a billion in the box office. I’ve enjoyed most of the live action movies.

That is true.  All Disney cares about is profit.  Not that they're the only ones.

[Wonkabar5]

I found 2 reviews from NPR.  

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/22/1177439851/the-little-mermaid-review-remake-disney

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/26/1177917346/the-little-mermaid-review-remake-disney-halle-bailey

 

Edited May 26, 2023 by Wonkabar5

[Lady Calypso]

I just came back from seeing it. Maybe nostalgia hit harder than I thought it would, since The Little Mermaid was a huge part of my childhood, but I did genuinely love the film. I loved the changes they made to the film, at least most of them, and I thought the actors all did amazing work.

My biggest critique is similar to what people said about the trailers: the lighting was way too dark at times. I felt like I was squinting at points during the darker scenes and then my eyes had to adjust when the daytime scenes happened. Maybe they were covering up poor CGI by having it darker so we wouldn't be able to see issues in the background, I don't know. 

I did like the updates they did to not just the songs, but some of the characters as well. Eric feels WAY more fleshed out, and Triton/Ariel's relationship works better here. And Ariel/Eric's relationship feels more developed here than it did in the animated film, just by adding small changes. 

I think I loved that they didn't try to copy the animated film, but still tried to follow the general premise of it. Halle Bailey was fantastic, as was Melissa McCarthy. 

Overall, I personally loved it and think it's one of the best Disney remakes they've made, maybe the best one for me that they've made. 

[Dr.OO7]

I just finished taking my mother for a belated Mother's Day outing.

I LOVED it. Halle Bailey was a phenomenal Ariel, and, yes Eric was better developed.

I don't usually like the "extra" scenes that these remakes have been adding, but they worked here.

If you can catch an IMAX showing, go. It's INCREDIBLE.

[Ultrahyenagirl]

I liked it! It's may genuinely be the only one of these remakes that I've actually liked. I did not enjoy Cinderella or the Jungle Book, and I outright hated the Beauty and the Beast remake. I really liked how they expanded on Ariel and Eric's relationship in this. There's only so much you can do with the love at first sight thing, but I still thought it was well done. 

Is it just me or did Disney really not want to shell out for extras in this movie? Is just didn't feel like there were a lot of people or merpeople in it. 

[Annber03]

I just saw this earlier with my mom and sister, and we all really liked it as well. The animated Disney version is the first movie I can remember seeing in the theater when I was little, so it felt a bit full circle in some ways for me, seeing this version :D. 

But yeah, I too really loved what they did with developing Ariel and Eric's relationship (and he was cute! Very easy to see where Ariel would've been smitten on first sight :D). There were quite a few moments during their day out that I thought were incredibly charming and lovely and sweet, and I'm glad we got to spend a little more time with them in that setting. And Halle captured Ariel's whole personality so perfectly. Her "Part of Your World" performance really was beautiful and actually got to me a bit. 

I also enjoyed McCarthy as Ursula, and the final showdown with her was just as intense and freaky as the animated version was, if not a bit more so. And I loved the interaction between Grimsby and the Queen. 

I also thought the animation was quite good throughout, especially in the scenes underwater. The "Under the Sea" scene was especially vibrant, which I really liked. 

Yeah. It was a lot of fun, and I too would absolutely recommend seeing it. 

Edited May 28, 2023 by Annber03

[Dr.OO7]

It was an interesting change from the original when Eric was under Ursula's spell immediately and went through the wedding in a complete trance, not even reacting to the various sea creatures attacking her. In this version, despite still being under her spell, he's still aware enough to be genuinely confused about what's happening, even saying so to Grimsby.

[BetterButter]

 

[Browncoat]

I just got back from seeing this, and I really enjoyed it a lot!  Halle Bailey is amazing!  I'd never heard of her before this, and was genuinely impressed by her voice.  I think Eric's was the weakest, but it was not weak in general -- just in comparison to Halle and Melissa McCarthy, who was great.  She clearly enjoyed herself as Ursula.  I did like all the extra backstory for Eric and the part with him and Ariel in the market was so fun.  

Nitpicks, because of course I have nitpicks -- they should have kept Scuttle as a gull.  Gannets typically aren't tropical, and wherever this kingdom was, was clearly tropical (palm trees and coconuts!).  And, like the horse of a different color in Wizard of Oz, the horse in the carriage ride scene was two very different horses.  The first one looked like a Friesian, and the second looked like some random black horse.  I mean, I get it, but if you're going to use different animals, at least get more similar looking ones.  I also agree that it was quite hard to see during some of the Ursula scenes.

Overall, though, I thought it was one of Disney's better live-action efforts.  It was a very beautiful film.

[twoods]

I absolutely loved it. I loved they developed Eric’s character more, and we got to see him and Ariel fall in love, and we also got a little more development between Ariel and her dad. I admit that I cried at the end with their scenes, and laughed my ass off during Kiss the Girl. The latter half of the movie flew by. I can’t imagine how amazing it all looked in IMAX- the underwater scenes were gorgeous.

[Harvey]

It's not cool how they changed the lyrics of Ursula's song and in return gave Scuttle an absolutely awful one. Lin Manuel Miranda has to be stopped! Anyway, the movie is showing early signs of flopping and not breaking even unless something unexpected happens, so I am curious to see where they are taking it from here.

[Bill1978]

1 hour ago, Harvey said:

Anyway, the movie is showing early signs of floppin

Is it? I did a quick google of 'Is The Little Mermaid flopping?' and while reports about it struggling at China's box office pop up, there are also other reports saying it's the best opening for a live action adaptation by Disney at the US box office.

[Harvey]

9 minutes ago, Bill1978 said:

Is it? I did a quick google of 'Is The Little Mermaid flopping?' and while reports about it struggling at China's box office pop up, there are also other reports saying it's the best opening for a live action adaptation by Disney at the US box office.

Emphasis on "at the US". It's doing well in the US and flopping internationally.

[Bill1978]

I honestly have no idea. But as a teacher in Australia, I heard no buzz today about The Little Mermaid from my students, so perhaps it's true that it is flopping internationally. My TikTok feed would indicate its doing big business hence my question of Is It? cause maybe Disney is paying for MermaidTok to be pushed out to drum up business.

[Harvey]

3 hours ago, Bill1978 said:

I honestly have no idea. But as a teacher in Australia, I heard no buzz today about The Little Mermaid from my students, so perhaps it's true that it is flopping internationally. My TikTok feed would indicate its doing big business hence my question of Is It? cause maybe Disney is paying for MermaidTok to be pushed out to drum up business.

Here's some further reading from box-office obsessed people if you don't believe me:

https://old.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/13u57i7/the_little_mermaid_reels_in_95_million_3day_box/

https://old.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/13u6ux5/the_little_mermaid_couldnt_even_beat_black_adam/

In conclusion: yes, it is flopping. We will know for sure after next weekend when we see the drop % (how much it did in the second week compared to the first one), which is what box office experts use to make even more accurate predictions.

[tv echo]

‘The Little Mermaid’ Splashes To $164M Global Bow, But There’s Something Fishy Overseas As Disney Pic Beset By Review-Bombing
By Nancy Tartaglione    May 28, 2023
https://deadline.com/2023/05/the-little-mermaid-global-opening-review-bombing-international-box-office-1235381992/ 

Quote

Refresh for latest…: Disney’s live-action take on The Little Mermaid is doing swimmingly at the domestic box office, with a three-day opening of $95.5M and a four-day projection of $117.5M. Factoring in the international box office bow of $68.3M, that makes for an estimated $163.8M global debut through Sunday. The offshore launch is lower than hoped for coming into the frame. But it bears noting there was something fishy going on in overseas markets with so-called review-bombing in such areas as France, Korea, Germany and beyond.

While the Rob Marshall-directed update has a 95% verified audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, film ratings websites overseas, including IMDB in the UK, Brazil and Mexico as well as AlloCiné in France, posted advisories during the rollout when negative user reviews appeared in questionable abundance.  

As we noted in our global preview, The Little Mermaid was expected to be more of a domestic play at the outset. However, it’s fairly astonishing to see these overseas reactions — largely believed to be led by internet trolls.

In France, where Little Mermaid launched on Wednesday, AlloCiné wrote, “We are currently observing an unusual distribution of scores which demands the need for caution. We encourage you to make up your own mind about the film.” While not unprecedented, this is a rare move. To be fair, critics at some respected outlets including Libération, Première and Les Inrockuptibles did not like the movie, giving it just one star.

On IMDB, a warning reads: “Our rating mechanism has detected unusual voting activity on this title. To preserve the reliability of our rating system, an alternate weighting calculation has been applied.” That note appears on the U.S. and Canadian sites as well as those for the UK, Brazil and Mexico. 
*  *  *
In Germany, Moviepilot showed a rating of .7 out of 10 before The Little Mermaid release – far lower than any comp title. Traction increased throughout the weekend, moving to a 5 rating.

Some gripes have been about murky lighting or even just the why of it all when remaking a classic. In some pockets of the world, there has sadly been racially-tinged commentary.

Korea’s SBS News reported heading into the weekend that the film had been subject to “ratings terrorism” in an article whose title Korean entertainment website Zapzee translated to “Backlash Against ‘Black Mermaid’: Appearance Ridiculed, Ratings Drop on Day One.” 
*  *  *
And, in China, it’s just a disaster. There is no audience score on Maoyan, unusual for a film already in release for several days. The box office through Sunday is a dismal RMB 17.7M ($2.5M) with Maoyan projecting a full run of about $4M. 

Edited May 29, 2023 by tv echo

[twoods]

Maybe word of mouth will help it internationally. Seems like the trolls were out in full force in some of these countries. They tried in the US, but people were curious and saw for themselves that it wasn’t as bad as they thought it would be. Only time will tell, but it likely won’t make as much as Aladdin since it did very well overseas.

[Guest]

14 hours ago, Harvey said:

Emphasis on "at the US". It's doing well in the US and flopping internationally.

If it does well in the US it won’t be a massive hit but it won’t flop. Plenty of successful movies have a much stronger domestic box office. Studios make a larger percentage off of domestic ticket sales than international and in one weekend it’s already made a big chunk of it’s production budget. It does need to have a good second weekend and strong legs which could be difficult in the current box office circumstances.  I think it’s too early to make any determination. 

[Ultrahyenagirl]

Quote

It does need to have a good second weekend and strong legs which could be difficult in the current box office circumstances. 

I agree, we do need to wait for the second weekend before we declare this movie a flop. Both Avatar 2 and GOTG 3 had underwhelming openings and they had great legs at the box office, so it wasn't a problem. That being said, the international numbers are admittedly pretty awful. This also supposedly has a $250 million budget and there's going to be a lot of competition in the coming weeks with Into the Spiderverse, Transformers, the Flash, Elemental and Indy 5. I'm hopeful, but nervous. 

[SlovakPrincess]

The whole redo-animated-film-with-more-realistic-animation trend is just odd to me, but I did end up liking the Aladdin remake, and I hope this one does well.  Really for no other reason than Halle Bailey is very talented and seems like a sweet person ... she genuinely seems like she enjoys meeting all the little kids when promoting the film!   

[starri]

I know this movie didn’t need to exist. 
 

Halle Bailey nailed it anyway. 

[proserpina65]

23 hours ago, Dani said:

If it does well in the US it won’t be a massive hit but it won’t flop. Plenty of successful movies have a much stronger domestic box office. Studios make a larger percentage off of domestic ticket sales than international and in one weekend it’s already made a big chunk of it’s production budget. It does need to have a good second weekend and strong legs which could be difficult in the current box office circumstances.  I think it’s too early to make any determination. 

It's definitely too early to make a determination since it could prove to have strong legs, but it has to make an estimated 200-250 million to break even, not including promotional costs, and it's going to need the international box office for that, imo.  The numbers from China are dismal, but that's just one market, so it'll probably make a profit for Disney but I doubt it'll end up being what they'd hoped for originally.

[angora]

On 5/27/2023 at 10:37 PM, Dr.OO7 said:

It was an interesting change from the original when Eric was under Ursula's spell immediately and went through the wedding in a complete trance, not even reacting to the various sea creatures attacking her. In this version, despite still being under her spell, he's still aware enough to be genuinely confused about what's happening, even saying so to Grimsby.

I thought that was interesting too. You could really see how confused and troubled he was, which made Ursula's actions even creepier. It was clear that her spell wasn't just using Eric as a means of hurting Ariel, she was hurting Eric too.

I loved it. The only other Disney remake I can say that about is The Jungle Book, and there, I'd been less invested in the original film, whereas this was more of a feat for me. Most of the classic movie scenes/songs were very well done, and for the most part, the plot changes were little nudges that enhanced the story without making a big "we are fixing plotholes!!!" deal out of it.

ITA with everyone who appreciated the fleshing out of Eric's character. I like that they explored the reasons for his love for sailing, beyond just general adventuring, and I really liked the parallels they drew between him and Ariel--both feeling constrained about staying where they "belong," both longing to explore other worlds/cultures, both with their collections, etc.

By and large, one thing that the Disney remakes *have* consistently done right is flesh out the romances. As someone who grew up on these movies, I'm not about to complain about, say, the original Aladdin/Jasmine, but in these remakes, we get to spend more time with them as they get to know each other, connect, and flirt. This film was no exception. Ariel and Eric's day out was adorable, and I loved the scene where she helped him figure out her name.

I really didn't think there was a weak link in the cast. Halle Bailey was superb (and her voice was magical!), Jonah Hauer-King was charming, Javier Bardem was nicely effective, Daveed Diggs was a lovable fussbudget, and Melissa McCarthy was having a grand old time. I also enjoyed what Art Malik and Noma Dumezweni added as Grimsby and the queen, and even the minor roles (the fisherman who found Ariel, the servants who helped her) were well cast.

Yeah, Scuttle's song was a miss, but I thought Eric's was beautiful, and I liked the one that conveyed Ariel's inner monologue when she came to the human world. For the classics, Halle Bailey's performance of "Part of Your World" was simply incandescent, and Melissa McCarthy sounded great on "Poor Unfortunate Souls." I really enjoyed Daveed Diggs on "Under the Sea," but I think these "spectacle songs" can be the hardest to adapt in a live-action (or "live-action") remake. While the CGI was colorful and fun, I wish it followed the lyrics more (ex: showing us the different fish in the "crustacean band" as he's singing about them.) "Kiss the Girl" was excellent, though.

While I got a lot of enjoyment out of the Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin remakes, at times in spite of themselves, this one was a knockout for me. Obviously, I get that not everyone will love it, but for the loud minority who's intent on hating it because they're short-circuiting over a Black mermaid, too bad for them. Their smallness is going to deprive them of a great family film.

[Twilight Man]

IMDB changes its movie rating system ...............  because Mickey Mouse told them to do it.

On 4/28/2023 at 6:37 PM, Bill1978 said:

I'm not a massive fan of these Disney live action remakes. I understand why they exist from a business standpoint but I generally just find it lazy moviemaking.

First off, this is also my philosophy regarding this and ALL the other live-action remakes.

I do NOT hate this movie, but I am also NOT a huge fan.

I also realize that much of the one-star ratings are no doubt very "racially" motivated.

Quote

 

........... it’s received over 32,000 ratings on IMDb where it currently sits at a 7 out of 10. Out of those, more than 13,000 gave the flick 1 star. A small notice at the top of the ratings page reads: “Our rating mechanism has detected unusual voting activity on this title. To preserve the reliability of our rating system, an alternate weighting calculation has been applied.”

 

How exactly do you decide (in the future) which films truly deserve their "spiteful" condemnation and also deserve "special" treatment???    What about films that receive a lot of positive reviews???   Are they being manipulated as well, and how do you know??????

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Twilight Man said:

 

IMDB changes its movie rating system ...............  because Mickey Mouse told them to do it.

 

They didn’t change it for Disney. The article even says that they have posted the same notice for other movies in the past. 

 

3 hours ago, Twilight Man said:

How exactly do you decide (in the future) which films truly deserve their "spiteful" condemnation and also deserve "special" treatment???    What about films that receive a lot of positive reviews???   Are they being manipulated as well, and how do you know??????

They will probably never reveal that but a relatively easy way would be to throw out obvious bot reviews or repeated reviews from the same IP. A website of that size shouldn’t have difficulty identifying bots or review bombers. 

[MissAlmond]

4 hours ago, Twilight Man said:

How exactly do you decide (in the future) which films truly deserve their "spiteful" condemnation and also deserve "special" treatment???    What about films that receive a lot of positive reviews???   Are they being manipulated as well, and how do you know??????

This ain't IMDB's first time at the rodeo. There's a reason they shut down their message boards years ago. IMDB knows exactly what type of activity to be suspicious of. 
 

[Annber03]

10 hours ago, angora said:

ITA with everyone who appreciated the fleshing out of Eric's character. I like that they explored the reasons for his love for sailing, beyond just general adventuring, and I really liked the parallels they drew between him and Ariel--both feeling constrained about staying where they "belong," both longing to explore other worlds/cultures, both with their collections, etc.

This. All of this :). I loved the scene with them in that one room in the castle, when he's showing her the maps and she's looking at his collection of things. That was such a nice, lovely bonding moment between them. I was half expecting them to make use of the telescope at some point :p.

Quote

I loved the scene where she helped him figure out her name.

I liked that, too, in large part because I like how they updated the list of names Eric suggested when trying to find out hers. 

[Sarah 103]

22 hours ago, angora said:

While the CGI was colorful and fun, I wish it followed the lyrics more (ex: showing us the different fish in the "crustacean band" as he's singing about them.)

This was my exact problem with "Under the Sea." Visually, it was stunning, but it felt like something was lost when you didn't see the different sea creatures playing the instruments or dancing as described in the lyrics. 

12 hours ago, Annber03 said:

 I loved the scene with them in that one room in the castle, when he's showing her the maps and she's looking at his collection of things. That was such a nice, lovely bonding moment between them.

This was a fantastic addition. I really liked the way they made Eric a more fully developed character in this one. I thought his song was a great addition to the movie. 

I also liked that they gave Grimsby a larger role and gave his character a bit more development. It made him the human counterpart to Sebastian (the buzzkill who reports to royalty but is totally for Eric and Ariel as a couple and tries to get them togther). 

I liked "Scuttlebutt." I thought the song gave more urgency and emotional power to the scene but was also funny.  

Another change I liked was the Ariel had more a direct role in bringing down Ursula. 

[Spartan Girl]

I haven’t minded most of the Disney live actions, but this seriously had to be the best. Say what you want about Rob Marshall, he knows how to do a musical!

What can I say about Halle that hasn’t already been said? She was perfection. She better be getting some casting offers soon, because she proved she can act and sing. She sang with such passion, not just “Part of Your World” but her “For the First Time” song. It really captured her giddy wonder at the human world and her excited waiting for Eric, only to end with a gut-punch at her realizing she gave up her voice and family and was now lost in a strange new world.

Melissa? Never doubted her for a second. Thank God this movie just let her be her fabulously evil self—heck, she was MORE evil this time around, straight up killing her victims and making Ariel forget she had to kiss Eric. Maybe that was a pointless change, but again, Ursula was doing that for shits and giggles, so I’ll allow it.

Echoing everything said about giving Eric more depth and fleshing out the romance. Cartoon Eric and Ariel were fine, but that was a much needed change, and Halle and Jonah had great chemistry. Screw Harry Styles, it wouldn’t have worked with him.

Awkwafina and David made me laugh. “Did she kill the Prince yet?” Ha, I see your HCA reference. Well played with that dark little in-joke, Disney.

Nobody can replace Samuel E Wright, of course, but Daveed worked.

8 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

I liked "Scuttlebutt." I thought the song gave more urgency and emotional power to the scene but was also funny.

Good, I’m not the only one that liked it. The title could be been different, but it was fun and catchy. I don’t get why everyone has to crap on Lin-Manuel Miranda now, he helped write the other new songs too.

8 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

This was my exact problem with "Under the Sea." Visually, it was stunning, but it felt like something was lost when you didn't see the different sea creatures playing the instruments or dancing as described in the lyrics

I don’t know, I was happy enough with all the bright sea creatures and Ariel interacting the. Particularly loved how the sea turtles marched in time to “the newt played the flute…” etc.

I too loved that Ariel was the one to take out Ursula. The people acting like it stole something from Eric and that he needed to kill Ursula in order to prove to Triton that humans weren’t all bad are completely missing the point of the original. Triton ultimately let’s Ariel go because he wants her to be happy; he isn’t giving her to Eric like she’s some trophy.

Speaking of Triton…I thought Javier was just okay. Cartoon Triton scared me as a kid, but his version was more of a tranquil fury. I did think the way he asked Sebastian, “Is my little one in love?” was cute. His best moment of course was the hug at the end.

My only nitpick is that I wish Ariel could have had a sparkly transformation dress like in the cartoon. We don’t really see a wedding either, just them sailing off on uncharted waters on their…honeymoon? Not sure if that was it was supposed to be. But I did like her pink dress at the end.

Honestly, I don’t get why people were complaining about the lighting. It all looked fine to me. Or maybe it’s just better on the big screen.

All in all, Disney did a good job. Everyone involved clearly had a blast and showed love for the original. Hope it can keep making money. And if they want to make a sequel…well, there’s no way it can be worse than the cartoon one!

Edited June 1, 2023 by Spartan Girl

[starri]

9 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

What can I say about Halle that hasn’t already been said? She was perfection. She better be getting some casting offers soon, because she proved she can act and sing.

If The Color Purple is as good as it appears to be, I wouldn't be shocked if she got an Oscar nomination.

[Spartan Girl]

20 hours ago, Annber03 said:

I liked that, too, in large part because I like how they updated the list of names Eric suggested when trying to find out hers

LOL at the side-eye she gave Eric when he guessed “Katherine.” It was like, “Do I look like a Katherine to you?”

I forgot to add that the actress playing Vanessa was great for the minor part she had. While it might have been a fun little in-joke Halle got to play her instead, there was no way Disney could pass up the “white girl stealing a Black girl’s voice” subtext.

[Trini]

Interview with Collen Atwood: 'Inside the Surreal Costuming of The Little Mermaid'

Quote

A noticeable absence from this film: Ariel’s shell bra.

We walked away from that one. I just think we wanted to have a more fishlike quality to the girls. Having them all plonk seashells on their breasts seemed like a weird way to go. And when you start putting shells on real bodies, it’s hard to make them look good, believe me. We went with a bralette that still has a fish vibe but wasn’t as aggressive as a shell bra.

 

[ICantDoThatDave]

On 5/30/2023 at 11:04 AM, proserpina65 said:

It's definitely too early to make a determination since it could prove to have strong legs, but it has to make an estimated 200-250 million to break even, not including promotional costs, and it's going to need the international box office for that, imo.  The numbers from China are dismal, but that's just one market, so it'll probably make a profit for Disney but I doubt it'll end up being what they'd hoped for originally.

The studios don't get 100% of the Box Office so it's going to need a LOT more than 200-250 million. Studios get the highest % from domestic (50-55% generally), less from foreign (33-40%), & the least from China (25%). A good rule of thumb is a film needs to make 2.5x its budget worldwide to break even.

So if the $250 million budget is accurate, it would need to make $625 million to break even. That is highly unlikely at this point & would require almost unprecedented retention, word of mouth, & repeat viewings - like The Force Awakens or Endgame levels. They could easily wind up losing $50-100 million if the film has average-to-poor tails legs.

[bluvelvet]

Just came back from seeing it and I absolutely LOVED it.  All the minor changes added to the overall story. 
 

Halle’s voice is amazing and I was rocking along to the songs. It’s really a pity so many had an issue with her casting, she really is perfect for the role. 
 

 

[Sarahsmile416]

Just watched this last night and loved it!  Even though I was a bit apprehensive about Melissa McCarthy, she really went all in and I loved her.   What more can be said about Halle Bailey? Her voice was everything and yes, her chemistry with Eric was amazing. 

I loved Jodi Benson’s cameo as one of the market vendors - and that it was her that handed her the dingelhopper and told her “she might need it”.  Perfect!

[proserpina65]

A 57% drop in domestic box office and dismal foreign results does not bode well for Disney's profit on this one.

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, Sarahsmile416 said:

I loved Jodi Benson’s cameo as one of the market vendors - and that it was her that handed her the dingelhopper and told her “she might need it”.  Perfect!

Oh me too. I thought it would’ve been funnier if she was only person that didn’t give Ariel a weird look for using it on her hair, but whatever.

Jodi is an absolute sweetheart: not only was she kind and supportive to Halle, but the lovely dress she wore to the premiere had the names of all the departed OG cast/crew embroider on it: Howard Ashman, Samuel Wright, Buddy Hackett, Pat Carroll, Renee Auberjonois…😍😍😍😭😭😭😭

[Sarahsmile416]

17 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Oh me too. I thought it would’ve been funnier if she was only person that didn’t give Ariel a weird look for using it on her hair, but whatever.

Jodi is an absolute sweetheart: not only was she kind and supportive to Halle, but the lovely dress she wore to the premiere had the names of all the departed OG cast/crew embroider on it: Howard Ashman, Samuel Wright, Buddy Hackett, Pat Carroll, Renee Auberjonois…😍😍😍😭😭😭😭

I was thinking the same thing! It would have brought the whole thing full circle.  

Oh wow!! I love that. I need to see a picture of that ❤️❤️

[Spartan Girl]

33 minutes ago, Sarahsmile416 said:

Oh wow!! I love that. I need to see a picture of that ❤️❤️

Your wish is my command!

 

 

Minor correction: I guess Buddy’s name wasn’t on there, but Ken Mars (Triton) was.

[Sarahsmile416]

12 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Your wish is my command!

 

 

Minor correction: I guess Buddy’s name wasn’t on there, but Ken Mars (Triton) was.

What a gorgeous dress!! Wow!!

And how did I never realize Kenneth Mars was the voice of Triton.  My mind is blown!

[Scarlett45]

On 5/22/2023 at 5:07 AM, starri said:

If you can't have Pat Carroll or a drag queen, and Queen Latifah's already done it, I think that was as close as we could reasonably come.

When was Queen Latifah Ursula??? I missed this!

[BetterButter]

3 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

When was Queen Latifah Ursula???

 

[Scarlett45]

On 5/23/2023 at 3:17 PM, twoods said:

Disney will keep making them as long as they make money off it it. Even the “duds” made half a billion in the box office. I’ve enjoyed most of the live action movies.

 

On 5/26/2023 at 11:05 AM, proserpina65 said:

That is true.  All Disney cares about is profit.  Not that they're the only ones.

They also make these to restart the clock on intellectual property laws. 

[Scarlett45]

On 6/5/2023 at 8:38 AM, Spartan Girl said:

Oh me too. I thought it would’ve been funnier if she was only person that didn’t give Ariel a weird look for using it on her hair, but whatever.

Jodi is an absolute sweetheart: not only was she kind and supportive to Halle, but the lovely dress she wore to the premiere had the names of all the departed OG cast/crew embroider on it: Howard Ashman, Samuel Wright, Buddy Hackett, Pat Carroll, Renee Auberjonois…😍😍😍😭😭😭😭

That’s so beautiful.