‘The Little Mermaid’ Makes Box Office Splash with $95.5 Million Opening

This image released by Disney shows Melissa McCarthy as Ursula in "The Little Mermaid." (Disney via AP)
This image released by Disney shows Melissa McCarthy as Ursula in "The Little Mermaid." (Disney via AP)
TT
20

‘The Little Mermaid’ Makes Box Office Splash with $95.5 Million Opening

This image released by Disney shows Melissa McCarthy as Ursula in "The Little Mermaid." (Disney via AP)
This image released by Disney shows Melissa McCarthy as Ursula in "The Little Mermaid." (Disney via AP)

“The Little Mermaid” made moviegoers want to be under the sea on Memorial Day weekend.

Disney’s live-action remake of its 1989 animated classic easily outswam the competition, bringing in $95.5 million on 4,320 screens in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday.

And Disney estimates the film starring Halle Bailey as the titular mermaid Ariel and Melissa McCarthy as her sea witch nemesis Ursula will reach $117.5 million by the time the holiday is over. It ranks as the fifth biggest Memorial Day weekend opening ever.

It displaces “Fast X” in the top spot. The 10th installment in the “Fast and Furious” franchise starring Vin Diesel has lagged behind more recent releases in the series, bringing in $23 million domestically for a two-week total of $108 million for Universal Pictures.

In its fourth weekend, Disney and Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” made an estimated $20 million in North America to take third place. It’s now made $299 million domestically.

The performance of “The Little Mermaid” represents something of a bounce-back for Disney’s animated-to-live-action remakes, and makes it likely they will keep coming indefinitely. Poor reception and the pandemic had some recent reboots either performing poorly or skipping theatrical releases for Disney +, including “Dumbo,” “Mulan” and “Pinocchio.”

“It works as long as the movies deliver,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “It’s great for Disney to be able to go to their archive by reviving these titles that started off as huge hits in the animated realm.”

The opening puts it in the top tier of Disney’s remakes, with a similar performance to 2019′s “Aladdin,” though it was well short of 2017′s “Beauty and the Beast,” which opened to more than $170 million, and 2019′s “The Lion King,” which brought in more than $190 million in its first weekend.

Audiences thought it delivered. The film had an A CinemaScore, and according to exit polling had more ticket buyers between ages 25 and 34 than children, suggesting nostalgic adults were essential.

“The multi-generational component of this cannot be overstated,” Dergarabedian said.

Critics were more lukewarm. The movie is currently at 67% on Rotten Tomatoes. In her review, Lindsey Bahr of The Associated Press called it “a somewhat drab undertaking with sparks of bioluminescence” that like too many of the Disney remakes “prioritized nostalgia and familiarity over compelling visual storytelling.”

She said Bailey, half of the sister R&B duo Chloe x Halle, still shone with a “lovely presence” and “superb voice.”

Directed by Rob Marshall with a reported budget of $250 million before marketing, “The Little Mermaid” tells the story of a yearning, wayward daughter who cuts a devil’s deal to swap her fins for a pair of legs. It features the songs from Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, including “Part of Your World” and “Under the Sea,” that helped the original film spark a Disney animation renaissance in the 1990s.

Fourth place went to Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which keeps reaching new levels in its eighth weekend. Now available to rent on VOD, it still earned $6.3 million in theaters. Its cumulative total of $559 million makes Mario and Luigi the year’s biggest earners so far.

Comics couldn’t stand up to Ariel as the week’s other new releases sank.

“The Machine,” an action comedy starring stand-up comedian Bert Kreischer, finished fifth with $4.9 million domestically. And “About My Father,” the broad comedy starring stand-up Sebastian Maniscalco and Robert De Niro, was sixth with $4.3 million.

It’s not clear whether “The Little Mermaid” will have legs — or fins — going forward. Next week brings the release of animated “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” with “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” arriving the following week.



Brian Tyree Henry Says 'Dope Thief' Role Felt Like 'Homecoming'

Actor Brian Tyree Henry attends the Los Angeles premiere of Amazon MGM Studios' ''The Fire Inside'' at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles, California, US, December 4, 2024. REUTERS/Aude Guerrucci/File Photo
Actor Brian Tyree Henry attends the Los Angeles premiere of Amazon MGM Studios' ''The Fire Inside'' at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles, California, US, December 4, 2024. REUTERS/Aude Guerrucci/File Photo
TT
20

Brian Tyree Henry Says 'Dope Thief' Role Felt Like 'Homecoming'

Actor Brian Tyree Henry attends the Los Angeles premiere of Amazon MGM Studios' ''The Fire Inside'' at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles, California, US, December 4, 2024. REUTERS/Aude Guerrucci/File Photo
Actor Brian Tyree Henry attends the Los Angeles premiere of Amazon MGM Studios' ''The Fire Inside'' at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles, California, US, December 4, 2024. REUTERS/Aude Guerrucci/File Photo

Brian Tyree Henry plays a thief fearing for his life while dealing with his painful past in gritty crime drama "Dope Thief", a role the US actor said felt like "a homecoming".

The eight-part mini-series stars Henry as Ray and "Narcos" actor Wagner Moura as Manny, two Philadelphia friends who pose as DEA agents to rob trap houses. But when they raid an unknown rural house, they unleash a dangerous set of events that sees them running from a cartel as well as the police.

“There was so much about (Ray) that resonated with me. I saw this man that was dealing with generational trauma, trying to find a way to make it, trying to find a way to actually be cared for," Henry, known for films such as "Transformers One", "Bullet Train" and "Causeway", for which he earned an Oscar nomination, told Reuters.

"He allowed me to lay down a lot of my burdens that I had been carrying ... it was definitely another transition for me ... to elevate myself and how to deal with my emotions and deal with my abandonment, deal with my fear and deal with all those different things.

"And so, Ray was actually the first time in a long time that I felt like I had come home. He felt like a homecoming in a way."

At the heart of "Dope Thief" is the long-running friendship between Ray and Manny and how they deal with their struggles.

"The show is violent. There's a lot of violence and crime and running and you've got this Black and Latino man, we've kind of seen this kind of show before," Henry said.

"But ... we wanted to show the tenderness between these two, the friendship."

"Dope Thief" is based on the 2009 novel by Dennis Tafoya, however the show drifts away from the book, series creator Peter Craig said.

"I liked that (Tafoya's) really got two novels in one. The second half is very internal, so I liked the idea of just using the first half and then having a lot of room for invention," he said.

"Dope Thief" premieres on Apple TV+ on Friday.