‘The Little Mermaid’ might have won the first battle against review-bombers, but it could still lose the box office war

Having emerged victorious in the opening battle against trolls and review-bombers everywhere by scoring the highest-ever Rotten Tomatoes audience approval rating for a live-action Disney remake, you’d have thought it’s nothing but plain sailing from here for The Little Mermaid.

Admittedly, Rob Marshall’s deep sea adventure did get a helping hand from a number of aggregation sites across the world after a rogue band of keyboard warriors mobilized to try to chip away at its rating, but a massive opening weekend north of $100 million did at least prove that the majority of people who claim to hate The Little Mermaid didn’t bother paying for a ticket.

Then again, the ticket sales outside of the United States were disappointing to put it lightly, with overseas earnings accounting for less than $70 million. By comparison, recent blockbusters Fast X and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 netted $168 million and and $251 million respectively outside of home soil, which could indicate that The Little Mermaid might be in danger of posting a loss when all is said and done.

With an estimated budget of $250 million plus the additional marketing and distribution costs, there’s a chance the popular do-over could need to reach at least $700 million globally before it can even consider turning a profit, and it goes without saying that week-to-week grosses outside of domestic shores very rarely tend to increase as more time passes.

It’s all a touch on the doom and gloom side, then, but that doesn’t mean The Little Mermaid is guaranteed to be the Mouse House’s latest money-making monster.