The live-action remake of the Disney animated classic The Little Mermaid is finally out in theaters. The reception from both critics and the audience has been mostly positive and the social media buzz has been as strong as they're hoping for.
The studio's track record with its live-action remakes has been very solid as some of them have crossed the billion-dollar mark. Now, the question is whether The Little Mermaid will follow in their footsteps and now we have our first results.
The Little Mermaid Wins the Domestic Opening Weekend Box Office
According to Deadline, The Little Mermaid has grossed an estimated $117.5 million during the four-day Memorial Day weekend making it number one at the box office. While it is a little bit below the $120 million projection, it was still considered a win.
The film's impressive record is slightly above Aladdin's numbers from 2019 when it also opened during the Memorial Day weekend with $116.8 million on its four-day start.
The report noted that the film has the biggest global promotional partner campaign for a Disney live-action remake with an estimated $80 million in value.
Considering that Aladdin ended up earning more than a billion dollars at the box office, this is certainly a good sign for The Little Mermaid's box office run and the positive word-of-mouth might also encourage more people to check out the film in the coming weeks.
Given that it was also budgeted at around $250 million, the film needs to be a huge success at the box office and this sign shows that it is likely to breakeven which is a win that Disney really needs.
The Little Mermaid Struggles at International Box Office
While the film had a big win at the domestic box office, it struggled in the international market as it only had a global debut of around $163.8 million which is lower than what a Disney live-action remake usually fare.
Deadline noted in their report that the film has also been swarmed by review bombing in countries like France, Korea, Germany, Mexico, and many more and it is believed that it is led by internet trolls.
"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," France's AlloCiné wrote in their statement.
IMDb also responded to the alleged review bombing, "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."
The film is also not performing well in China as it only debuted at number five on the charts as it grossed at around $2.5 million and it is now Disney's worst opening in the country this year.
This is certainly not an encouraging sign about its overall box office as it has to rely on the international market in order to become a billion-dollar grosser and it will only end up becoming a North American hit.
There are analysts that speculate that the film might not have a huge global appeal like the other Disney titles which is why it had the results. It would be interesting to see now how it will fare in the coming weeks and whether it will still be a mega box office hit like the other remakes.
Also Read: Will The Little Mermaid 2023 Live-Action Get a Sequel?
The Little Mermaid is currently showing in theaters everywhere. You can check more details about it here.
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