While overall business dippedthis weekendbecause of a handful of under-performers, one movie quietly notched another win at the global box office. After exactly a month in theaters, Disney’sThe Little Mermaidremake is passing the $500 million mark worldwide as we speak. The movie was practically written off some weeks ago after it was observed how poorly it was performing in international markets, but a steady domestic showing has ensured that it will be able to deliver a respectable total by the end of its theatrical run.
A remake ofthe original 1989 animated film,The Little Mermaidhas grossed $270 million domestically, and another $229 million from overseas territories, for a running global haul of $499.3 million. The movie will pass the $500 million mark worldwide today and is projected to conclude its global run with around $525 million. Whether this is enough to put the project in the black is up for debate, considering the mammoth $250 million that it reportedly cost to produce (minus the marketing spending). As a rule of thumb,a movie this sizeneeds to make twice its budget theatrically to break even.
But is a break-even finish good enough for Disney at this point? The studio perhaps overestimated the film’s potential on the global stage after its last majorlive-action remake,Aladdin, ended up grossing over $1 billion worldwide. ButThe Little Mermaidbrand was never quite as popular asAladdin, which also had the added benefit of featuring a true-blue movie star —Will Smith— whose face could be plastered on all the marketing.Aladdinconcluded its domestic run with $350 million after debuting with $117 million stateside;The Little Mermaiddelivered an identical resulton its first weekend a month ago.
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How DoesThe Little MermaidCompare to Other Disney Live-Action Remakes?
Aladdinwas particularly popular in Asian markets such as Japan ($112 million), South Korea ($91 million), and China ($53 million). ButThe Little Mermaidhas been a non-performer in each of those territories; it made just $10 million in Japan, and completely bombed in South Korea ($5 million) and China ($3.7 million). Despite that,The Little Mermaidis the fifth-biggest Hollywood release of the year at the global box office, and the fourth-biggest movie of the year domestically, behindThe Super Mario Bros. Movie,Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3andSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. This weekend,The Little Mermaidalso swam past Disney’sMaleficent: Mistress of Evil($490 million worldwide). This is likely the last Disney live-action remake (or sequel) whose global gross the movie will pass, because on the grid in front of it areCinderella($543 million),Maleficent($758 million), andThe Jungle Book($966 million), not to mention four billion-dollar-plus blockbusters —Aladdin,Alice in Wonderland,Beauty and the BeastandThe Lion King.
The Little Mermaidstars newcomerHalle Bailey, who received acclaim for her performance even as critics and audiences complained aboutthe changesthat directorRob Marshallmade to the original animated film’s story. The movie also featuresMelissa McCarthyas the villainous Ursula andJonah Hauer-Kingas Eric. You can watch our interview with the two young leads here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
