The Little Mermaid box office: Why it will not make a Billion Dollars

The Little Mermaid had a strong start at the domestic box office, but it was slightly shy of its estimates. Being a live-action Disney remake, it was always expected to be a contender to enter the Billion Dollar club, similar to Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King. While the latter two are far out of reach, The Little Mermaid has opened closer to Aladdin.

On its opening weekend (May 26-28), The Little Mermaid brought in $95.4 million at the domestic box office. Adding Memorial Day’s numbers, the film made $117.5 million in its four days long Memorial Day weekend (May 26-29). But the initial projections for the four-day weekend were between 120-$123 million.

So, the film hasn’t performed as well as it was expected to. Furthermore, its worldwide box office numbers are also low, as it only reached $185 million in its first four days.

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The Little Mermaid vs. Aladdin

Aladdin’s three-day opening weekend stood at $91 million, and its four-day Memorial Day weekend brought in $116 million. So, The Little Mermaid has won the first fight at the domestic box office. However, with Will Smith being a more recognized star, Aladdin had a bigger global appeal.

Thanks to Will Smith’s performance as Genie, Guy Ritchie’s live-action Disney remake opened with $207 million worldwide, which is significantly more than Halle Bailey’s Little Mermaid movie. Aladdin made $355 million at the domestic box office and brought in a whopping $695 million from the international markets, allowing its total to reach $1.050 billion worldwide.

It came out in Hollywood’s golden year, 2019, when Disney was ruling the industry. So, being a top-notch film with Will Smith’s Genie gaining popularity, Aladdin proved to have strong feet in the weeks following its release. Furthermore, Disney was strongly focusing on a sequel before Will Smith’s scandal at the Oscars.

The Little Mermaid has had a better start at the domestic box office. Still, unfortunately for Disney, it won’t replicate Aladdin’s performance despite having a strong cast and great reviews from the critics.

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Why The Little Mermaid will not make a Billion Dollars

There are multiple factors that would prohibit Halle Bailey’s latest outing from joining Disney’s esteemed Billion Dollar movies. Firstly, the film features a lot of familiar and talented actors in support of Halle Bailey. Melissa McCarthy, Daveed Diggs, Javier Bardem, and Awkwafina are a few of them.

But it’s safe to say that none of them carry the mass appeal that Will Smith did. So, after a very timid start, they cannot raise the film’s numbers in the international market. The second reason that cannot happen is the overcrowdedness of Summer 2023.

The Little Mermaid already had to battle the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Fast X in its opening. But June is the biggest month of 2023 as it brings Spider-Verse 2, Transformers 7, The Flash, Elemental, No Hard Feelings, Asteroid City, and Indiana Jones 5, which are all highly anticipated movies. So, the film will naturally suffer due to a lot of competition.

The third reason could be Halle Bailey’s involvement in the film. Even though she has earned great critical acclaim and many fans have loved her performance, certain people were unhappy with the race-bent casting of Ariel. So, they didn’t show up to support the film, and many even review-bombed it online. All these demerits have surely affected the film’s box office numbers.