The Little Mermaid - Walt Disney Studios - Official Trailer

[Shadow Mann]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpGo2_d3oYE


The upcoming live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid has generated both excitement and controversy. On one hand, fans of the original animated movie and newcomers alike are looking forward to seeing the beloved story brought to life with a talented cast and modern special effects.

However, the casting of Halle Bailey, a Black actress, as Ariel has caused some backlash from a small but vocal group of fans who have criticized the decision as "political correctness" and claimed that it goes against the original character's appearance.

Despite the controversy, the production team has remained steadfast in their choice of casting and has emphasized the importance of representation and diversity in their adaptation.

Overall, while there is some controversy surrounding The Little Mermaid's upcoming movie, many are looking forward to seeing how this classic story is brought to life in a new and exciting way. And hopefully, the movie will spark important conversations about representation and inclusivity in media.

 

[Joelist]

Actually ChatGPT is not accurate here. First, judging by measures (such as ratioing) it is FAR from a "small group of vocal fans" that have criticized not just the ethnicity swap but also the major story changes and the cinematography (way to dark, muddy looking). The details are available online, and basically this version buries the romance angle (which was the main story point before), has Ariel defeat the villain unaided and so on.

 

[Lord Ba'al]

I haven't even seen the original yet. Sheesh!

Regarding having a black actress play the character, I really couldn't give a rat's ass, but I can see why people would be upset about that. "The importance of representation", WTF is that supposed to mean? I bet the Latino and Asian communities are quite upset that they are not represented. Black getting preferential treatment over them, lol. My point is, you can't have people of all different ethnicities play the same character at the same time. Nor should anyone want that. It seems to me that a lot of people are so focused on representation and fairness for so called "minority groups" that they are blind to the fact that what's actually happening is discrimination against white people. Every time someone calls out about something needing to be represented by a specific race, they are actively widening the gap between races, not bringing races closer together.

 

[Joelist]

It also is not even what the big disputes are over anyway. The disputes are over changing the story by essentially removing the romance and turning Ariel into a girlboss combined with a visual aesthetic that (like most Disney live action) is too dark and the live action versions of the animals lack all expressiveness.

 

[Quetesh]

I think they should make her purple since she is part fish, and then everyone can stop trying to make some point about every single frakin movie or show and let us just enjoy or not enjoy on it's own merits.
So sick of this same stuff over and over and over again.

 

[Quetesh]

I haven't even seen the original yet. Sheesh!

Regarding having a black actress play the character, I really couldn't give a rat's ass, but I can see why people would be upset about that. "The importance of representation", WTF is that supposed to mean? I bet the Latino and Asian communities are quite upset that they are not represented. Black getting preferential treatment over them, lol. My point is, you can't have people of all different ethnicities play the same character at the same time. Nor should anyone want that. It seems to me that a lot of people are so focused on representation and fairness for so called "minority groups" that they are blind to the fact that what's actually happening is discrimination against white people. Every time someone calls out about something needing to be represented by a specific race, they are actively widening the gap between races, not bringing races closer together.

I have watched almost a third of anyone over a certain age ( wrong mindset ) and or being "non diverse" get canned at my company in the last couple of years. We have forced training, much more than before, and I agree to some extent now it is downright racism against my not being diverse...read into that what you will. There are laws that should be preventing this but it is a really big company and nobody is willing to speak up for fear of losing clients. If you are "not diverse" and openly Christian it is outright hostile.

Bottomline is this, I don't watch crap that is trying to make a point , spark new conversations or anything other than just make an enjoyable story without this in mind. I just skip it. Many agree as sooooooo many of Netflix shows that were doing this have already been canned

.
If I want a lesson, I will take a class.

 

[Joelist]

So a bit of $$$ math.

Production cost 250 million and marketing cost (per disclosure by Disney) 140 million so they need AT LEAST 390 million to break even.

With two weekends in the bag (and hence the big money):

Domestic is $186,207,067. The Theatres keep usually 45% the first full week and 55% thereafter so this is about $102,413,887 going back to Disney.

Overseas is only $140,500,000. The overseas theaters and countries keep a higher percentage (usually estimated at 65%) so of this Disney gets $48,175,000.

So right now they have $151,588,887 roughly coming back to offset that $390,000,000. So they still need $238,411,113 approximately just to breakeven.

THIS IS NOT GOOD.

Let's look at another film in the theaters now - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3:

Production cost 250 million and marketing cost estimated to be 75 million so they need AT LEAST 325 million to break even.

With four weekends in the bag (and hence the big money):

Domestic is $322,711,454. The Theatres keep usually 45% the first full week and 55% thereafter so this is about $164,355,727 going back to Disney.

Overseas is $457,400,000. The overseas theaters and countries keep a higher percentage (usually estimated at 65%) so of this Disney gets $160,090,000.

So right now they have $324,445,727 roughly coming back to offset that $325,000,000. So they are roughly at breakeven here.

Little Mermaid currently looks (after a nearly 60% drop from week one to week two) like Disney is going to eat a loss on it of probably $100,000,000. Guardians despite much higher box-office is only breakeven.

Morals of the story - Stop preaching in your movies and the studios absolutely MUST get production and marketing costs trimmed a good amount.

 

[Joelist]

17 days in and it still looks like Disney is going to lose AT LEAST 100 million and likely more on Little Mermaid. Right now they have roughly 163.4 million coming back to them (based on usual percentages theaters get domestic/overseas) versus budget of 250 million plus 140 million marketing. So with most of the run money in they still need 226.4 million coming back to them just to break even. In raw box-office terms this is more like another 450-460 million.