LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Little Mermaid made moviegoers want to be under the sea on Memorial Day weekend.
Disney’s live-action remake of its 1989 animated classic easily outswam the competition, bringing in USD95.5 million on 4,320 screens in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday.
And Disney estimates the film starring Halle Bailey as the titular mermaid Ariel and Melissa McCarthy as her sea witch nemesis Ursula will reach USD117.5 million by the time the holiday is over. It ranks as the fifth biggest Memorial Day weekend opening ever.
It displaces Fast X in the top spot. The 10th installment in the Fast and Furious franchise starring Vin Diesel has lagged behind more recent releases in the series, bringing in USD23 million domestically for a two-week total of USD108 million for Universal Pictures.
In its fourth weekend, Disney and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 made an estimated USD20 million in North America to take third place. It’s now made USD299 million domestically.
The performance of The Little Mermaid represents something of a bounce-back for Disney’s animated-to-live-action remakes, and makes it likely they will keep coming indefinitely. Poor reception and the pandemic had some recent reboots either performing poorly or skipping theatrical releases for Disney +, including Dumbo, Mulan and Pinocchio.
“It works as long as the movies deliver,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “It’s great for Disney to be able to go to their archive by reviving these titles that started off as huge hits in the animated realm.”
The opening puts it in the top tier of Disney’s remakes, with a similar performance to 2019’s Aladdin, though it was well short of 2017’s Beauty and the Beast, which opened to more than USD170 million, and 2019’s The Lion King, which brought in more than USD190 million in its first weekend.
Audiences thought it delivered. The film had an A CinemaScore, and according to exit polling had more ticket buyers between ages 25 and 34 than children, suggesting nostalgic adults were essential.
“The multi-generational component of this cannot be overstated,” Dergarabedian said.
Critics were more lukewarm. The movie is currently at 67 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes. In her review, Lindsey Bahr of The Associated Press called it “a somewhat drab undertaking with sparks of bioluminescence” that like too many of the Disney remakes “prioritised nostalgia and familiarity over compelling visual storytelling.”
She said Bailey, half of the sister R&B duo Chloe x Halle, still shone with a “lovely presence” and “superb voice.”
Directed by Rob Marshall with a reported budget of USD250 million before marketing, The Little Mermaid tells the story of a yearning, wayward daughter who cuts a devil’s deal to swap her fins for a pair of legs. It features the songs from Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, including “Part of Your World” and “Under the Sea,” that helped the original film spark a Disney animation renaissance in the 1990s.
Fourth place went to Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie, which keeps reaching new levels in its eighth weekend. Now available to rent on VOD, it still earned USD6.3 million in theatres. Its cumulative total of USD559 million makes Mario and Luigi the year’s biggest earners so far.
Comics couldn’t stand up to Ariel as the week’s other new releases sank.
The Machine, an action comedy starring stand—up comedian Bert Kreischer, finished fifth with USD4.9 million domestically. And About My Father, the broad comedy starring stand-up Sebastian Maniscalco and Robert De Niro, was sixth with USD4.3 million.
It’s not clear whether The Little Mermaid will have legs — or fins — going forward. Next week brings the release of animated Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, with Transformers: Rise of the Beasts arriving the following week.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theatres, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
- The Little Mermaid, USD95.5 million.
- Fast X, USD23 million.
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, USD20 million.
- The Super Mario Bros Movie, USD6.3 million.
- The Machine, USD4.9 million.
- About My Father, USD4.3 million.
- Kandahar, USD2.4 million.
- You Hurt My Feelings, 1.4 million.
- Evil Dead Rise, USD1 million.
- Book Club, The Next Chapter, USD920, 000.
