In recent years, Disney has been making live-action remakes of classic animated films. Many of these films have brought in huge profits, such as Aladdin (2019) and The Lion King (2019) with revenues of 1.05 billion USD and 1.65 billion USD respectively. However, many works caused heavy controversy and led to losses such as The Little Mermaid (2023).
According to Forbes statistics, The Little Mermaid (Vietnamese title: The Little Mermaid) caused the “Mouse House” to lose 5 million USD (nearly 123 billion VND). The reason was because the film's budget was inflated to 355.1 million USD due to production during the Covid-19 pandemic. The film brought in 570 million USD in revenue, but had to share 40% with the distributor, not to mention many other small promotional costs.
The film is a live-action version of The Little Mermaid The 1989 classic, which brought in $235 million in revenue against a budget of just $40 million and won two Oscars. The 2023 film stars Halle Bailey as Ariel. The entire cast of fish and shrimp characters in the film, such as Sebastian (Daveed Diggs), Flounder (Jacob Tremblay), etc., all used computer effects, contributing to the film's high budget.
Not only that, The Little Mermaid also caused a lot of controversy before its release when it cast a black actress as Ariel. According to many viewers, The Little Mermaid The film was based on a fairy tale by Andersen, a Danish author. Therefore, Ariel should have had white European skin. In addition, the film also angered many researchers when countless sea creatures from different regions suddenly appeared in the same frame.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a meager critical score of 67%. Some news sites commented The Little Mermaid is a boring, unnecessary remake with lifeless musical performances that ruin the legacy of the animated film. Audiences were more lenient, giving the film a 94% rating, but many criticized Rotten Tomatoes for deleting negative reviews, leaving the number of reviews at just over 10,000.
