Any blockbuster worth its salt always has eyes on crossing $300 million at the domestic box office, which is generally regarded as the barometer that separates the runaway success stories from mere hits, so you can presume Disney’s frustration after The Little Mermaid topped out at $297 million during its initial run.
Rob Marshall’s remake of the animated classic did at least manage to hoover up $568 million globally, but debate still rages as to whether or not it actually managed to turn a profit given rumors it required at least $600 million just to break even, based on the reported $265 million budget plus the associated marketing and distribution costs that always eat into the bottom line.
There was also the unsavory racist backlash to deal with, but it’s not as if the people lambasting The Little Mermaid for race-swapping Ariel from her two-dimensional form will actually get out of the basement long enough to hate-watch the film on the big screen, so it turned out to be a rather moot point at the end of the day.
That being said, appetite for catching it at the multiplex appears to have dried up significantly, which makes sense when Halle Bailey’s star-making turn is arriving on Disney Plus imminently. The Mouse House sent a singalong version of The Little Mermaid onto 1600 screens this weekend in an attempt to rustle up some extra cash, only to end up with only $510,000 for its troubles.
Breaking that down, it equates to a per-theater average of $319, which isn’t great to undersell it dramatically. Clearly, everybody’s waiting to see it again from the comfort of their own home.
