‘The Little Mermaid’ Poised to Make $120 Million at U.S. Box Office

May 25, 2023

*Disney’s live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid” is poised to make $120 million at the U.S. box office and $180M worldwide.

The bulk of that number will be made in America and would make the title the fifth-highest opening stateside for the 3-day Memorial Day weekend holiday, Deadline reports.

Halle Bailey is the first Black actress to portray the red-headed mermaid Ariel and she recently chatted with Access Hollywood about taking on the beloved character.

Halle explained how kids’ reaction to the groundbreaking flick is healing her inner child, sharing, “I just feel so grateful and when I see the children and the babies and their reactions … It’s like this immense feeling, like overwhelmingly beautiful feeling within me.”

Earlier this year, the actress addressed the racist backlash over her casting as Princess Ariel.

“As a Black person, you just expect it and it’s not really a shock anymore,” Bailey told The Face. ”When [Chlöe and I] first signed to Parkwood, [Beyoncé] was always like: ’I never read my comments. Don’t ever read the comments.’ Honestly, when the teaser came out, I was at the D23 Expo and I was so happy. I didn’t see any of the negativity.”

“I know people are like: ’It’s not about race.’ But now that I’m her…People don’t understand that when you’re Black there’s this whole other community,” she added. “It’s so important for us to see ourselves.”

Director Rob Marshall told Entertainment Weekly that he had “no agenda” when casting a Black Ariel.

“We just were looking for the best actor for the role, period. The end,” Marshall said. “We saw everybody and every ethnicity. [The goal was to find someone who can be] incredibly strong, passionate, beautiful, smart, clever [and with] a great deal of fire and joy.”

Marshall said of Bailey in 2019, “After an extensive search, it was abundantly clear that Halle possesses that rare combination of spirit, heart, youth, innocence, and substance — plus a glorious singing voice — all intrinsic qualities necessary to play this iconic role.”