Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” live-action, starring actress Halle Bailey, is receiving hot attention and signaling a box office success.
The magic of “The Little Mermaid” begins with Disney’s live-action expected to captivate theaters worldwide. Disney, which has previously attracted global fans with live-action adaptations of classic animations such as “Cinderella”, “Aladdin”, “Beauty and the Beast”, and so on, has created the first “Black Little Mermaid” with the best production team.
“The Little Mermaid”, which opens in cinemas on May 24th, has been the center of attention from the production stage. In particular, the live-action casted black actress Halle Bailey as the protagonist Ariel, different from the original, which featured a white princess, raising huge buzz
Black Little Mermaid will be a new hope
Based on the same-name animation, “The Little Mermaid” is a story about Ariel, the princess of a sea kingdom, falling in love with a human prince named Eric. However, when Halle Bailey was confirmed to be playing Ariel, some netizens criticized the casting choice, saying it ruins childhood memories and damages the original. Some even went as far as to post malicious comments on the trailer video and Halle Bailey’s SNS.
However, against these critical opinions, voices of netizens supporting the black little mermaid, using the hashtag #Blackgirlmagic, have grown even louder. Disney also refuted that the Little Mermaid can be of any race.
Meanwhile, influential media and critics also voiced their opinions, with CNN stating that criticism against the black little mermaid is blatant racial discrimination. The media also emphasized that rather than ruining memories, Disney’s new casting provides more dreams to more children.
On the other hand, The Washington Post also reported “The Little Mermaid” as a gesture towards important social progress and a hope for social integration.
The public’s strong support for the black little mermaid was also revealed in toy sales. The black little mermaid Barbie doll, which Disney started selling in March, topped the doll sales on Amazon, the largest e-commerce platform in the United States. Regarding this, Rolling Stone, a popular music magazine, said it was not only a huge victory for representation, but also a rite of passage for a true Disney princess.
Premiere receives rave reviews, positive box office signal
On May 9th (Korean time), the first world premiere for “The Little Mermaid” was held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, USA, ahead of the film’s release. Here, Halle Bailey received rave reviews, making the casting controversy seem insignificant.
In particular, film media Next Best Picture described Halle Bailey’s performance as a perfect casting that makes everything stand out more, while Fandango said that the actress provided emotional acting that gave them goosebumps.
Meanwhile, We Live Entertainment stated that Halle Bailey was born to appear in the movie, and that her appearance was “the reason itself to watch ‘The Little Mermaid'”.
On the other hand, a trailer video showing Halle Bailey singing “Part of Your World”, one of the representative OSTs of “The Little Mermaid”, recorded nearly 100,000 views in just three days after its release.
In response to such enthusiastic reviews, local media predicted that “The Little Mermaid” would be a box office success, with an expected opening of 110 million USD in North America, triumphing over other animations’ live-action adaptation.
Source: Daum
