The Little Mermaid's Box Office Splash Leads to Disney's Biggest Live-Action Opening

Joe Schmidt

05/28/2023 11:22 am EDT

Disney's efforts to revitalize The Little Mermaid for live-action appear to have paid off, with the film reportedly making $30 million on Saturday over the Memorial Day weekend. The newest Wald Disney Pictures remake is currently projected to make $97 – $98 million over three days, while four-day projections are estimated to pull $121 – $123 million. According to the report from Deadline, that puts The Little Mermaid in the same territory as Aladdin, another successful live-action remake from Disney.

According to the report, Disney gave The Little Mermaid the largest global promotional partnerships for marketing a film outside of the Star Wars or Marvel franchises. Those campaigns included Mattel, McDonalds, ULTA, Kellogg's, Booking.com, and more.

The Little Mermaid's success is another win for Disney, which also dominated the box office at the beginning of May with the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. And while The Little Mermaid is a recognizable project due to familiarity with the iconic animated film, Disney and director Rob Marshall made some major changes in their live-action adaptation.

ComicBook.com spoke with Marshall ahead of the film's release, and the director explained how much of this new The Little Mermaid works because of star Halle Bailey.

"Well, you know, she was like a sponge," said Marshall. "I mean, you know, she'd never done this before. And she shared with me later, which I wasn't aware of, that she was so scared every day. But I never felt that from her. She seemed as cool as a cucumber, but she was soaking everything in and everything that I would say or [producer[ John DeLuca would say. She absorbed so quickly and would just do it, but she did it with taste."

"You know, that was that's what's interesting. She understood camera and film immediately, and I thought that was sort of natural," Marshall added. "You could see she's natural on camera, truthful. But there's something, you know, they say the camera loves you or, you know... the camera loves Halle. They it's just there's something about her. And so I was so excited to actually watch her grow into a film star as we were working. It was really exciting."

The Little Mermaid is now playing in theaters. Read on to see more of the weekend's box office results for the weekend of May 28, 2023.

1. The Little Mermaid

Opening Weekend
Total: $104 million

The Little Mermaid stars singer and actress Halle Bailey (grown-ish) as Ariel; Tony Award® winner Daveed Diggs (Hamilton, Snowpiercer) as the voice of Sebastian; Jacob Tremblay (Luca, Room) as the voice of Flounder; Awkwafina (Raya and the Last Dragon) as the voice of Scuttle; Jonah Hauer-King (A Dog's Way Home) as Prince Eric; Art Malik (Homeland) as Sir Grimsby; Noma Dumezweni (Mary Poppins Returns) as Queen Selina; with Oscar® winner Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men, Being the Ricardos) as King Triton; and two-time Academy Award® nominee Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Bridesmaids) as Ursula.

The Little Mermaid is directed by Oscar® nominee Rob Marshall ("Chicago," "Mary Poppins Returns"), and written by two-time Oscar nominee David Magee (Life of Pi, Finding Neverland), with a live-action story adaptation by David Magee, Rob Marshall, and two-time Emmy winner John DeLuca (Tony Bennett: An American Classic), based on the short story by Hans Christian Andersen, and the Disney animated film by Ron Clements and John Musker.

2. Fast X

(Photo: Universal Pictures)

Week Two

Weekend: $22.8 million
Total: $113.4 million

Over many missions and against impossible odds, Dom Toretto and his family have outsmarted and outdriven every foe in their path. Now, they must confront the most lethal opponent they've ever faced. Fueled by revenge, a terrifying threat emerges from the shadows of the past to shatter Dom's world and destroy everything -- and everyone -- he loves.

Louis Leterrier directed Fast X from a story by Dan Mazeau, Justin Lin, and Zach Dean. The film stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, John Cena, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Scott Eastwood, Daniela Melchior, Alan Ritchson, Helen Mirren, Brie Larson, Rita Moreno, Jason Statham, Jason Momoa, and Charlize Theron.

3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

(Photo: Marvel Studios)

Week Four
Weekend: $20.6 million
Total: $306 million

Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill must rally his team to defend the universe and protect one of their own. If the mission is not completely successful, it could possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them.

James Gunn wrote and directed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, capping off his trilogy of space-based Marvel Studios films. The movie star Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Zoe Saldaña as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, with Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot and Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, Chukwudi Iwuji as The High Evolutionary, Will Poulter as Adam Warlock, and Maria Bakalova as the voice of Cosmo.

4. The Super Mario Bros. Movie

(Photo: Nintendo, Universal)

Week Eight
Weekend: $6.2 million
Total: $560.8 million

With help from Princess Peach, Mario gets ready to square off against the all-powerful Bowser to stop his plans from conquering the world.

Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic directed The Super Mario Bros. Movie from a screenplay by Matthew Fogel. The film's voice cast includes Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, Fred Armisen, Sebastian Maniscalco, Charles Martinet, and Kevin Michael Richardson.

5. The Machine

Opening Weekend
Total: $5.2 million

Set 23 years after the original story which inspired it, The Machine finds Bert Kreischer facing familial crisis and the arrival of his estranged father (Mark Hamill) when the ghost of his booze-soaked past arrives: a murderous mobster (Iva Babić) hellbent on kidnapping Bert back to the motherland to atone for his crimes. Together, he and his father must retrace the steps of his younger self (Jimmy Tatro) in the midst of a war between a sociopathic crime family while they attempt to find common ground.

6. About My Father

(Photo: Lionsgate)

Opening Weekend
Total: $4.1 million

The hottest comic in America, Sebastian Maniscalco joins forces with legendary Italian-American and two-time Oscar winner, Robert De Niro, in the new comedy About My Father. The film centers around Sebastian (Maniscalco) who is encouraged by his fiancée (Leslie Bibb) to bring his immigrant, hairdresser father, Salvo (De Niro), to a weekend get-together with her super-rich and exceedingly eccentric family (Kim Cattrall, Anders Holm, Brett Dier, David Rasche). The weekend develops into what can only be described as a culture clash, leaving Sebastian and Salvo to discover that the great thing about family is everything about family.

7. Kandahar

Opening Weekend
Total: $2.5 million

An undercover CIA operative gets stuck in hostile territory in Afghanistan after his mission is exposed. Accompanied by his translator, he must fight enemy combatants as he tries to reach an extraction point in Kandahar.

8. You Hurt My Feelings

Opening Weekend
Total: $1.3 million

Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), a popular writer, and her husband Don, a well-liked teacher, share the kind of relationship that truly, seriously, for the love of God cannot be real: that is, they're actually in love. Even after decades of marriage, parenting, and their own successful careers, their physical spark has somehow not diminished; in fact, they seem to relish the opportunity to share a single ice cream cone and drive others -- including their son, Charlie -- mad. Should it come as a surprise then that his own marriage is in crisis? But when Beth discovers that Don has been untruthful to her about his opinion of her work for years -- Beth's world comes crashing down. Has their whole relationship been one Big Fat Lie?

9. Evil Dead Rise

Week Six
Weekend: $1 million
Total: $66.4 million

A reunion between two estranged sisters gets cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.

Lee Cronin wrote and directed Evil Dead Rise, which is the fifth installment of the Evil Dead series, created by Sam Raimi. It stars Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Morgan Davies, Gabrielle Echols, and Nell Fisher.

10. Book Club: The Next Chapter

(Photo: Focus Features)

Week Three
Weekend: $910 thousand
Total: $16.3 million

Four best friends take their book club to Italy for the fun girls trip they never had. When things go off the rails and secrets are revealed, their relaxing vacation turns into a once-in-a-lifetime cross-country adventure.

Bill Holderman wrote and directed Book Club: The Next Chapter. The film stars Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson, Giancarlo Giannini, Andy García, and Don Johnson.

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