Disney's Live Action The Little Mermaid

[LittleBuford]

Is it just me or is the media kind of burying that this is underperforming?

Here are the first four news stories that show up for me:

 

[networkpro]

So, how would the same movie have done in Asian nations if we get the same exact thing except.......Ariel was played by an Asian girl?

Questionable at best. Why ? Fokelore. South Eastern Asian supernatural water spirits are not benevolent Korean (cheonyeo and mul gwishin), Chinese (Jiao Ren, Pan Long), Japanese (kappa, Umibōzu) so it'd take a really engaging and well-populated story to even budge the needle towards popularity.... Those audiences would be expecting out of the box a monster movie.

 

[Jedijax719]

Questionable at best. Why ? Fokelore. South Eastern Asian supernatural water spirits are not benevolent Korean (cheonyeo and mul gwishin), Chinese (Jiao Ren, Pan Long), Japanese (kappa, Umibōzu) so it'd take a really engaging and well-populated story to even budge the needle towards popularity.... Those audiences would be expecting out of the box a monster movie.

But one of China's biggest all time movies is "The Mermaid".

 

[networkpro]

But one of China's biggest all time movies is "The Mermaid

And its also a local production with cultural norms expected of Chinese societies.... as well as not being dubbed.

Just because it's presented in a specific language doesn't mean that it will engage the audience.

 

[Jedijax719]

While so many people are trashing TLM for its box office performance, has anyone looked at WB's The Flash's numbers? GEEZ!!! And we thought Disney had a problem!!! Probably coming in at less than $60 million.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Is it just me or is the media kind of burying that this is underperforming? Feel like "first tentpole Disney remake to underperform after several billion dollar hits in a row" would be a big story for any other film.

$427M after several weeks, that is an underperformance right? Genuinely asking cause this isn't my specialty.

After three weeks, a movie is old news.

I was waiting for the media to congratulate GotG3 for hitting its profit margin, but then, nothing. Even the articles that track box office returns stopped mentioning it.

And when you get a slew of new tentpoles... forget about keeping up the long-ago of three weeks earlier.

 

[erasure fan1]

While so many people are trashing TLM for its box office performance, has anyone looked at WB's The Flash's numbers? GEEZ!!! And we thought Disney had a problem!!! Probably coming in at less than $60 million.

Well, to be fair, the DCEU has had problems WELL before Disney. It's been talked about plenty. When Shazam tanked, or how Aquaman 2 will probably struggle. They've taken a lot of heat for how mismanaged it has been.

 

[Ghost93]

After three weeks, a movie is old news.

I was waiting for the media to congratulate GotG3 for hitting its profit margin, but then, nothing. Even the articles that track box office returns stopped mentioning it.

And when you get a slew of new tentpoles... forget about keeping up the long-ago of three weeks earlier.

Hopefully, this summer will teach movie studios not to release so many tentpoles back to back. I feel all of the May/June movies would have made more had they been spread out.

 

[erasure fan1]

After three weeks, a movie is old news.

I was waiting for the media to congratulate GotG3 for hitting its profit margin, but then, nothing. Even the articles that track box office returns stopped mentioning it.

And when you get a slew of new tentpoles... forget about keeping up the long-ago of three weeks earlier.

Yea, unless a movie breaks some sort of record, good or bad, after a few weeks it's old news.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

While so many people are trashing TLM for its box office performance, has anyone looked at WB's The Flash's numbers? GEEZ!!! And we thought Disney had a problem!!! Probably coming in at less than $60 million.

They had to have known this was a very likely possibility when they chose to keep Ezra Miller after all the allegations, keeping a toxic lead actor was destined to doom this movie before it was even released.

 

[erasure fan1]

They had to have known this was a very likely possibility when they chose to keep Ezra Miller after all the allegations, keeping a toxic lead actor was destined to doom this movie before it was even released.

That and the fact that they are rebooting-ish the DC universe so who cares at this point. I know I'm not investing in any of these final DC movies before the reboot really starts. It is kind of funny that they decided to keep Ezra, who most didn't like as a person, or as the flash. And fired Cavill that most everyone really likes as a person and loves his superman. Go figure.

 

[Ghost93]

They had to have known this was a very likely possibility when they chose to keep Ezra Miller after all the allegations, keeping a toxic lead actor was destined to doom this movie before it was even released.

They would have had to reshoot the entire movie and spend another $100 million if they wanted to recast Ezra Miller. I think this movie was doomed no matter what.

 

[erasure fan1]

They would have had to reshoot the entire movie and spend another $100 million if they wanted to recast Ezra Miller. I think this movie was doomed no matter what.

Yup, I think that's why they leaned so hard into Batman 89. They hoped Keaton's small part would put some butts in seats. At least in the short term.

 

[TP2000]

I don't quite understand why everyone thinks the domestic take is suddenly over. It's continuing to track in almost perfect lockstep with Aladdin domestically. I don't know if that means 325 or ultimately 350 like Aladdin... but what logic are people using that it will be 275? Nothing with its trend has indicated such.

The issue there is inflation. Aladdin was from 20I9 and produced in 20I7-I8 when inflation was practically non-existent.

In 2023, after several years of suddenly high inflation, the numbers for Mermaid look much worse than Aladdin. Especially with that bizarrely and nearly criminally bloated $250 Million production budget for Mermaid.

Add in the fact that the overseas box office for Mermaid is tracking to just one third what Aladdin did in foreign countries , and it's looking like Mermaid is going to lose tens of millions of dollars (perhaps a hundred million) for Disney when it's all said and done two weeks from now.

Here's the latest box office from this weekend, with the "Inflation Adjusted" figure down below the one to look at. The bar graph is not inflation adjusted.

Adjusted for inflation, Mermaid is tracking to make just under half the money that Aladdin made globally.

 

[Jedijax719]

Truth is that almost all movies post-pandemic can be called relative "failures" and the very few that have been successful (No Way Home, Maverick, Mario Brothers) are outlying freaks of nature. I still, for the life of me, cannot comprehend why/how Maverick and Mario were as successful as they were (unless it's the jet flying sequences in Mav and the kiddie aspect of Mario).

If people wanna talk about cash grabs, Mario takes the cake. Capitalize on what little kids like to do and have pretty much NO plot for kids to follow-there it is. Not saying there's anything wrong with that. But if we are to say that TLM (or any remake) is a "soul less cash grab" then we HAVE to admit to ourselves that Mario is too. For me, personally, I would say that neither is soul less, but both are every bit a cash grab as any movie meant to make money is.

 

[erasure fan1]

If people wanna talk about cash grabs, Mario takes the cake. Capitalize on what little kids like to do and have pretty much NO plot for kids to follow-there it is.

I think "what little kids like" is selling it a bit short. Mario is huge, from people who are 5 to 50. And the movie was made unapologetically for fans of Mario.

But if we are to say that TLM (or any remake) is a "soul less cash grab" then we HAVE to admit to ourselves that Mario is too. For me, personally, I would say that neither is soul less, but both are every bit a cash grab as any movie meant to make money is.

The reason I would disagree that Mario is a cash grab. Is unlike mermaid, Mario wasn't already a beloved classic film that they've already made. Now if you want to say the original Mario movie was a cash grab, absolutely. But just because it doesn't have a Shawshank level story, doesn't mean it's a cash grab. They did exactly what Disney seems to not want to do. Stay true to the source material and give the fans what they want. The same goes for Maverick. If Disney was making top gun. Maverick would have been a broken down has been who couldn't do anything on his own, with nothing to offer the younger generation.

 

[Tha Realest]

Truth is that almost all movies post-pandemic can be called relative "failures" and the very few that have been successful (No Way Home, Maverick, Mario Brothers) are outlying freaks of nature. I still, for the life of me, cannot comprehend why/how Maverick and Mario were as successful as they were (unless it's the jet flying sequences in Mav and the kiddie aspect of Mario).

If people wanna talk about cash grabs, Mario takes the cake. Capitalize on what little kids like to do and have pretty much NO plot for kids to follow-there it is. Not saying there's anything wrong with that. But if we are to say that TLM (or any remake) is a "soul less cash grab" then we HAVE to admit to ourselves that Mario is too. For me, personally, I would say that neither is soul less, but both are every bit a cash grab as any movie meant to make money is.

Mario was not functionally a beat-for-beat remake of an animated film. It’s by far the most successful video game film ever, which is a sub-genre that has never done well critically or commercially (with a few minor exceptions).

At least Mario grabbed some cash (coins?) TLM couldn’t manage that.

 

[Jedijax719]

Mario was not functionally a beat-for-beat remake of an animated film. It’s by far the most successful video game film ever, which is a sub-genre that has never done well critically or commercially (with a few minor exceptions).

At least Mario grabbed some cash (coins?) TLM couldn’t manage that.

Oookay....so, what exactly is your point?

 

[TP2000]

At least Mario grabbed some cash (coins?) TLM couldn’t manage that.

Some cash? Universal's Mario grabbed all the cash this spring.

For those keeping score at home...

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Insulting much....

Who said anything about trying to "math" it to bring down the cost to make it a success? Stop trying to put words in my mouth.

All I said is we don't know the original production budget of this pre-Covid. You make it seem like its close to zero cost associated due to Covid, I'm just saying its in Millions which is not nothing and that that added expense is not the fault of Disney. I'm already on record for years now saying that Disney production budgets have to come down, PERIOD. So whether $200M pre-Covid or $250M with added Covid expenses its still TOO high of a production budget.

You went here:

Covid “making the budget out of control”…is a Hail Mary to a strawman argument

And to be clear: I love me some Ray Bolger