The Little Mermaid Earns $117.5 Million At The Box Office During The Memorial Day Weekend

The live-action version of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” made $117.5 million domestically, placing it fifth among all Memorial Day weekend debuts in box office history, according to Box Office Mojo.

Halle Bailey plays Ariel in the remake of the 1989 Disney animated classic. Critics praised Bailey’s portrayal of the titular character, but the film as a whole received a decidedly mixed response.

Only 68% of critics gave the film a positive review on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The film was well received by audiences, with 95% giving it a thumbs up on Rotten Tomatoes.

However, IMDB, which also tracks audience reviews, stated that it had to adjust some of its ratings overseas after discovering that the film was the victim of review-bombing.

Despite all the review bombing, “The Little Mermaid” is currently ranked fifth among Disney’s live-action remakes for best domestic debuts, trailing only The Jungle Book ($103.26 million), Alice in Wonderland ($116.1 million), Beauty and the Beast ($174.01 million), and The Lion King ($191.7 million).

Unlike “The Little Mermaid,” these films did not debut on Memorial Day, so based on the traditional three-day weekend, ‘The Little Mermaid’ grossed $95.4 million in its first three days.

The film has earned more than $185 million at the global box office, but with a $250 million budget and an estimated marketing budget of $100 million, the film would need to earn $500-$700 million to break even.