After briefly hinting that it could exceed projections by a considerable margin, Disney’s The Little Mermaid is opening in line with expectations at the domestic box office. The live-action remake of the classic animated film is looking at more than $95.5 million in its three-day domestic debut and just over $117 million over the extended Memorial Day holiday weekend. On both counts, it’s nimbly outpacing Disney’s last major live-action remake, 2019’s Aladdin, which generated $116.8 million across the same frame.
Directed by Mouse House veteran Rob Marshall, The Little Mermaid made $38 million on Friday, including more than $10 million from Thursday previews. It added $30 million on Saturday, and by the end of today, it will have made around $104 million at the domestic box office. The movie is also expected to generate around $80 million from overseas territories, for an extended global debut in the $200 million range.
All eyes will now be on how comfortably it stays afloat over the next few weeks. Aladdin displayed incredible legs in 2019 and concluded its domestic run with over $350 million. It became one of four Disney live-action remakes to gross more than $1 billion globally, joining the likes of Alice in Wonderland, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast. Considering the enduring popularity of the original animated film, and the excellent A CinemaScore that it received from opening day audiences, the future looks bright for The Little Mermaid remake.
That’s not quite the case for last week’s number one film, Universal’s Fast X, which is already slowing down at the domestic box office. The 10th installment in the long-running action franchise debuted with a soft $67 million last weekend, and it appears to be continuing the series’ downward spiral stateside. Fast X dropped by a huge 66% in weekend two, grossing $23 million. The film is expected to make $28 million across the extended four-day weekend, taking its running domestic total to $113 million.
Globally, Fast X crossed the $500 million mark but still trails the franchise’s biggest hits — Furious 7 and The Fate of the Furious, both of which grossed more than $1 billion — by a wide margin. Slipping to number three, Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 passed the $300 million mark domestically this weekend, after adding around $20 million across the three-day frame and a projected $26 million across four days. The film’s running domestic total now stands at $306 million, which puts it only slightly behind the first Guardians of the Galaxy’s $333 million lifetime haul.
Only One New Release Debuted in the Top Five
Universal’s mega-hit The Super Mario Bros. Movie took the fourth spot, with $6.2 million across the traditional three-day weekend. The animated video game adaptation — the biggest movie of the year so far — is expected to make $8 million across the extended holiday weekend, which should take its running domestic total to $560 million. Globally, Super Mario has grossed $1.27 billion, which means that it is passing Frozen 2’s $1.28 billion gross to become the second-biggest animated movie of all time. The sole new release this weekend to find a place in the top five is The Machine, starring Bert Kreischer and Mark Hamill. The action comedy is eyeing a $5.8 million four-day debut, outclassing fellow new releases Kandahar and About My Father.
The Little Mermaid doesn’t have a clear slipstream in front of it; Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is slated for release next week, followed by Transformers: Rise of the Beasts the week after that. You can watch our interview with stars Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
