Is Disney expecting high hopes for the live-action version of The Little Mermaid?

[Scootin'By]

Just got back from seeing TLM with my 10yo daughter. Both of us LOVED it! The songs were great, the acting was great, and I really liked the story changes they made (much more modern take, although still a few issues).

I can understand a budget of $390m. The mermaid sequences were fantastic, and that was the part I was most worried about. I don't think I ever saw this movie making as much as an Avengers movie, so Disney definitely spent too much. But, time will tell. There's still streaming profits and BluRay sales to take into account.

 

[Boopuff]

I just can't get over the star Hallie Bailey....just sounds too much like Halley Berry...LOL

 

[Karin1984]

Just saw a news item telling me that one of the merman in Little Mermaid is actually an actor from the Italian adult entertainment industry. And if family entertainment company Disney should have paid better attention to who they cast.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

I don't know what caused it but somehow the media narrative was around TLM was race and race swapping the character. Spiderverse is doing much better with an equally if not more diverse cast, but somehow they completely avoid race being a topic of media discussion on that film. One of the big reasons TLM is not doing great financially is Overseas viewers didn't seem to have much interest at all in it.

Biggest issue bar none though are these monstrous production budgets Disney has been racking up lately. When you run up a budget as big as the TLM and it requires you to make $800 M just to break even, you have zero room for error.

 

[Disneychick13]

I don't know what caused it but somehow the media narrative was around TLM was race and race swapping the character. Spiderverse is doing much better with an equally if not more diverse cast, but somehow they completely avoid race being a topic of media discussion on that film. One of the big reasons TLM is not doing great financially is Overseas viewers didn't seem to have much interest at all in it.

Biggest issue bar none though are these monstrous production budgets Disney has been racking up lately. When you run up a budget as big as the TLM and it requires you to make $800 M just to break even, you have zero room for error.

Probably had something to do with the fact that in Across the Spiderverse, Miles Morales was always a person of color. No one changed the ethnicity of the central character. So it’s probably not the diversity that people had a problem with; it was a combination of changing the ethnicity of a character (that Disney created canon for in the first place) as well as a general lack of interest in yet another live action remake. And the budget of course. You just can’t get around that.

 

[Karin1984]

Could it also be that little boys identify in a different way with superheroes than little girls do to princesses?
I have no idea, but I have a feeling that girls personify much more with these kind of characters.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

Just saw a news item telling me that one of the merman in Little Mermaid is actually an actor from the Italian adult entertainment industry. And if family entertainment company Disney should have paid better attention to who they cast.

I read this last night as well, really hard to believe this could make it through the extensive background check process that Disney does. I have developed and sold some products to Disney in a prior job, they do extensive research on your company before you can even do business with them. I can't imagine what an actor's background check process might be like.

 

[Moliphino]

I read this last night as well, really hard to believe this could make it through the extensive background check process that Disney does. I have developed and sold some products to Disney in a prior job, they do extensive research on your company before you can even do business with them. I can't imagine what an actor's background check process might be like.

It was a background merman hired to look pretty. Who even cares?

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

Do you realize how closely Disney guards stuff like this? They won't even allow a pic of Walt Disney to ever be seen with a cigarette in his hand, that's how close Disney controls the image of Disney. There are likely thousands of these such photos Walt smoked 3 packs of lucky stripes a day for many years. The have literally air brushed out cigarettes in pics of Walt over the years.

 

[Moliphino]

Do you realize how closely Disney guards stuff like this? They won't even allow a pic of Walt Disney to ever be seen with a cigarette in his hand, that's how close Disney controls the image of Disney. There are likely thousands of these such photos Walt smoked 3 packs of lucky stripes a day for many years. The have literally air brushed out cigarettes in pics of Walt over the years.

Walt Disney is the face of the company. This guy is basically an extra. Unless your kids have been watching Italian adult films they'll have no idea.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

I don’t give a rip, I’m just shocked it made it through the Disney screeners.

 

[bcla]

I don’t give a rip, I’m just shocked it made it through the Disney screeners.

They hardly run background checks on bit actors. Casting directors handle all that hiring.

 

[Karin1984]

Same, I am more surprised that he got through as Disney is usually pretty thorough. But will anyone notice... only those adults who watch Italian adult entertainment ;-)

 

[Karin1984]

The other day I saw a Tiktok of a creator talking about how Disney changes the wrong things when it comes to live action remakes.
Like giving Jasmine the song Speechless. Being speechless and silenced wasn't an issue in the first movie. Jasmine was not afraid to speak her mind against Jafar or Aladdin.
And also that Belle was too passive.

She explained this as Disney isn't fighting the image of these particular princesses but the image of the ultimate Disney princess Cinderella.

It was an interesting take.

 

[BrianL]

The other day I saw a Tiktok of a creator talking about how Disney changes the wrong things when it comes to live action remakes.
Like giving Jasmine the song Speechless. Being speechless and silenced wasn't an issue in the first movie. Jasmine was not afraid to speak her mind against Jafar or Aladdin.
And also that Belle was too passive.

She explained this as Disney isn't fighting the image of these particular princesses but the image of the ultimate Disney princess Cinderella.

It was an interesting take.

That is an interesting thought, and kinda true, isn't it?

 

[jkh36619]

Just to note, TLM production budget was bloated a bit due to COVID. Now that's not to say that other live action remakes have been coming in under 1M in production. But it was affected.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

That is an interesting thought, and kinda true, isn't it?

I believe part of the issue currently with Disney is they are struggling to stay out of intersectional dynamics. I think it is really difficult for companies to not pick a sides nowadays. Look at Target and Bud Light, they are being strongly criticized on both sides of the issue. Especially hard to stay neutral considering saying nothing can be seen as support in some cases, it's a tough spot and I fully admit that. I also don't think you can expect an entertainment company to constantly revise it's history George Orwell 1984 style, to appeal to modern senses of what is politically correct to say or do.

 

[BrianL]

I believe part of the issue currently with Disney is they are struggling to stay out of intersectional dynamics. I think it is really difficult for companies to not pick a sides nowadays. Look at Target and Bud Light, they are being strongly criticized on both sides of the issue. Especially considering saying nothing can be seen as support in some cases, it's a tough spot and I fully admit that. I also don't think you can expect an entertainment company to constantly revise it's history George Orwell 1984 style, to appeal to modern senses of what is politically correct to say or do.

Well, you know, times change and expectations change and that's all good. I do think that sometimes they do kind of force it or make issues out of things that really aren't issues. There's also the hamfisted implementation which really has a lot to do with the inability of many in today's society to understand subtlety or nuance - they want everything spelled out. The best way to handle it is to just do it and not make a big deal about it or pat yourself on the back, etc. I think for the most part a lot of productions still do that, but sometimes they get a little lost in the weeds with it.

 

[whiteness]

I believe part of the issue currently with Disney is they are struggling to stay out of intersectional dynamics. I think it is really difficult for companies to not pick a sides nowadays. Look at Target and Bud Light, they are being strongly criticized on both sides of the issue. Especially hard to stay neutral considering saying nothing can be seen as support in some cases, it's a tough spot and I fully admit that. I also don't think you can expect an entertainment company to constantly revise it's history George Orwell 1984 style, to appeal to modern senses of what is politically correct to say or do.

Disney could have just "remade" The Little Mermaid as live action, changing as little about the original as possible. That might have been more popular with people. I guess we'll never know.

But...did we really need a remake of the Little Mermaid? I don't think so. I've seen all of the original Disney classics and loved them. But I still haven't watched any of the recent remakes (The Little Mermaid, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio, etc.) I have no desire to, really.

Kind of makes me wonder "If I'm not Disney's target audience, then who is?" Are there folks out there that would rather see a live action remake of The Little Mermaid than the original? If so...why? Because of the changes that Disney made to make it "better" than the original? If so...what were they? Sorry, but I just don't get it.

 

[BrianL]

Disney could have just "remade" The Little Mermaid as live action, changing as little about the original as possible. That might have been more popular with people. I guess we'll never know.

But...did we really need a remake of the Little Mermaid? I don't think so. I've seen all of the original Disney classics and loved them. But I still haven't watched any of the recent remakes (The Little Mermaid, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio, etc.) I have no desire to, really.

Kind of makes me wonder "If I'm not Disney's target audience, then who is?" Are there folks out there that would rather see a live action remake of The Little Mermaid than the original? If so...why? Because of the changes that Disney made to make it "better" than the original? If so...what were they? Sorry, but I just don't get it.

I don't really get it eiher - but there is definitely an audience out there that does. They make a lot of money on those remakes. Plus there are folks that think that a live-action movie is the ultimate expression of a concept and that it somehow lends more legitimacy to it. I don't feel that way at all, but that sentiment exists.