The live-action Little Mermaid is set for a strong box office projection.
The Little Mermaid (2023)– starring Halle Bailey (Ariel/ Little Mermaid), Melissa McCarthy (Ursula), Jonah Hauer-King(Eric), and Javier Bardem (King Triton)– is set to be released on May 26, 2023. The movie is seeing projections of more than $110 million, and some believe the film could reach $1 billion in revenue before it’s all said and done. That being said, it hasn’t necessarily been smooth sailing for the live-action retelling of the classic 1989 animated film.
The film has been met with backlash for the last couple of years, and most recently, Disney unveiled more details that had fans in a frenzy. The company revealed that they had changed lyrics to many iconic songs in the movie, including re-recordings of “Kiss the Girl” and “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” which Inside the Magic previously covered. According to the report, Lin-Manuel Miranda joined the animated movie’s original composer Alan Menken to pen four new songs, and the two came up with new lyrics for these two songs because of content that was deemed “sensitive” in the original songs. Of course, this was met with much backlash from a large portion of fans.
Now, as Disney moves closer to the official release of the movie, an actor for The Walt Disney Company recently came out with some comments that many deemed negative towards The Little Mermaid.
Mena Massoud, who is best known for playing Aladdin in the 2019 live-action remake alongside Will Smith (Genie) and Naomi Scott (Princess Jasmine), gave commentary on his projections for the upcoming movie, comparing it to Aladdin. Inside the Magic covered these comments, which can be read below:
“Our film was unique in that audiences went to watch it multiple times,” Massoud said. “It’s the only we reached the billion dark mark with our opening. My guess is TLM (The Little Mermaid) doesn’t cross the billion mark but will undoubtedly get a sequel.”
Shortly after those comments were made, thousands of Twitter users responded in backlash against the actor. So much so, in fact, that the actor has now decided to delete his account, which boasted more than 135,000 followers.
Twitter user Patrick Dougall shared screenshots of the actor’s account, which is now deleted.
Yeah… should’ve just stayed quiet! #littlemermaid to a billion!
Yeah… should’ve just stayed quiet!#littlemermaid to a billion! pic.twitter.com/Orb0PZ2cNo
— Patrick Dougall (@PatrickADougall) May 13, 2023
While many expressed backlash on perceived negativity from the actor, it seems he was more arguing for an Aladdin sequel to be made in his comments. Unfortunately, it seems that Disney has passed on the idea of making a second Aladdin, even after the first one was considered a wild box office success.
Just recently, Halle Bailey sang the song “Part of Your World” at Disneyland Resort for the first time since filming. You can see the performance below:
first time singing part of your world live since filming thank you @AmericanIdol for giving me the chance to do so on stage at disneyland ..singing vocals in freezing cold weather at 3am while park is closed is no joke but we did it! only 11 more days until you all can watch the film!
first time singing part of your world live since filming 😭🌊thank you @AmericanIdol for giving me the chance to do so on stage at disneyland ..singing vocals in freezing cold weather at 3am while park is closed is no joke but we did it! only 11 more days until you all can watch… pic.twitter.com/xnjsGVDqj3
— Halle (@HalleBailey) May 15, 2023
What do you think of this development amid The Little Mermaid‘s promotional run? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments!