Summary

Disney’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid is finding greater success on Disney+ than it did in theaters. Despite its success on Disney+, the controversy surrounding the remake, including the casting of Halle Bailey as Ariel, continued long after the movie’s release. The Little Mermaid is currently ranked the seventh most popular movie of 2023.

The latest Disney live action remake, The Little Mermaid, has already left behind most movie theaters around the world, and has since landed on the small screen courtesy of Disney+, where it is enjoying greater success than it enjoyed on the big screen. After years in development, the live-action remake of the 1989 animated classic The Little Mermaid finally made its way to theaters earlier this year. Controversy always surrounded the project, with fans claiming it was not necessary to make a new version of the film, and social media entering into a strong debate when Halle Bailey was cast as Ariel. A discussion that lasted until long after the movie was released.

According to Box Office Mojo, The Little Mermaid has grossed more than $298 million dollars at the domestic box office, reaching a total of $569 million worldwide, which are pretty good numbers considering the approximate budget of $250 million. The film is currently ranked as the seventh most popular movie of 2023, and it seems like after landing at the streaming platform things are only getting better for it.

After the debut of the film on Disney+ on September 6, the House of Mouse revealed that it has become one of the most watched movies on the platform, reaching 16 million views in its first five days. This is a huge accomplishment considering The Little Mermaid is competing with titles like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Avatar: The Way of Water, both of which were smashing hits at the box office.

The Little Mermaid is directed by Rob Marshall, and stars Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina Jacob Tremblay, Javier Bardem, and Melissa McCarthy.

Related: The Little Mermaid: Biggest Differences Between the Original and Disney’s Live-Action Remake

Warner Bros. Pictures

Despite the great numbers of some productions like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Little Mermaid or Elemental, Disney didn’t have its best year at the box office, with some setbacks like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. However, on the other side of the road, things are even worse.

Warner Bros. Pictures is enjoying the enormous success of Barbie, but before Greta Gerwig’s box office saving title the studio suffered from some major failures with Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash. The film, directed by Andy Muschietti, also debuted on streaming a few days ago, and is trying to recover from the poor reception it had while in theaters.

The movie ended its theatrical run grossing $268 million dollars, which is really low for such a high budget film and a comic book adaptation based on one of the most popular characters from DC Comics. Fortunately, it is performing a lot better on Max.

According to Whip Media, The Flash is currently at the second spot on the Top 10 of most watched movies in the US. These numbers are from the weekend between September 1st and September 3rd, which is a great performance considering it premiered on Max on August 25. The first spot is occupied by Adam Sandler’s You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, which is becoming one of the actor’s most successful films.

 The Little Mermaid didn’t have the best performance at the box office, but is now doing much better on Disney+.  Read More