Disney’s production line of live-action remakes based on the studio’s deep bench of animated classics have teetered on the brink of creative bankruptcy on several occasions, and even a relatively fresh spin on a well-known property like Cruella ultimately suffered from trying to bolt its independent narrative onto the bones of 101 Dalmatians.
Next out of the gate is Rob Marshall’s The Little Mermaid, and while it doesn’t have a locked in release date as of yet, production kicked off at the end of January and is scheduled to conclude at some point next month, so summer 2022 would seem like a safe bet. Since the cast and crew pitched up in Sardinia for exterior shooting there’s been an influx of set photos making the rounds, and the latest batch reveals Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, which you can check out below.
New "The Little Mermaid" set photos are here featuring your very first look at Noma Dumezweni as Carlotta and Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric! https://t.co/vnSKkOBWtv
— JustJared.com (@JustJared) June 23, 2021
Also spotted is Noma Dumezweni, best known for playing Hermione Granger in the initial run of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on London’s West End and Broadway, who lends support in The Little Mermaid as Carlotta, Eric’s housekeeper who looks after Halle Bailey’s Ariel when she makes her way onto dry land.
A lot of these Disney retreads have failed to justify their own existence, simply believing that adding a couple of extra songs and subplots to pad out the running time is enough to distract from the fact that 90% of the film is copied and pasted directly from what came before, and from a box office perspective at least, it’s definitely worked. Marshall is a safe pair of hands with plenty of Mouse House experience, so The Little Mermaid is guaranteed to be functional, even if there’s no promises it’ll be spectacular.
