Has anyone stopped to think that the reason Disney keeps making live-action remakes is because we keep going to the theaters to see them? We can moan and groan all we want, but when we fork over our cash, we are telling Disney we want more. Just look at Rob Marshall’s The Little Mermaid — the film is currently on track to become one of the company’s highest-grossing live-action films of all time. That is if we’re going off of historical data.
At present, The Little Mermaid has pulled in $10.3 million in previews at the box office, according to Variety. That’s more than Aladdin ($7 million), Cruella ($4.8 million), and 2015’s Cinderella ($2.3 million). Of those three, Aladdin became a billion-dollar global sensation. It just so happens that The Little Mermaid is on track to outperform that film in its opening weekend figures too.
The live-action Aladdin earned $1.05 billion at the global box office with an opening weekend revenue of $117 million. The Little Mermaid is estimated to land somewhere between $120 and $125 million, meaning it’s not far-fetched at all to assume this modern take on one of the studio’s most beloved classics will join Aladdin in the billion-dollar club, alongside Beauty and the Beast ($1.26 billion), and The Lion King ($1.66 billion).
Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King both earned $174.7 million and $191 million in their opening weekends, respectively, with each film bringing in a respective $16.3 million and $23 million in previews. So, it is unlikely The Little Mermaid will soar quite as high as they did, but Aladdin’s opening weekend numbers are a perfect example of a film surpassing its expectations. (Especially considering the film started out with a much wobblier opening weekend projection.)
Since its premiere, The Little Mermaid’s Rotten Tomatoes critic score has dropped from 71% to 67%. However, its audience score is sitting comfortably at an impressive 95%, making it the second-highest audience score behind Cruella and tied with Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.
The Little Mermaid is currently playing in theaters.