Current Events > The Little Mermaid is in danger of breaking even or even losing money.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Toonstrack posted...

Ariel is a mermaid and has no racial heritage resembling anything a human would have.

But the human royalty are also black. It isn't just the merpeople. The merpeople also - gasp - aren't real. They're played by humans. The casting reflects human perceptions. There's no "mer lore" or something. They made the cast diverse because they wanted the cast diverse, full stop. Whether it made sense or not didn't matter. Lady and the Tramp is set 100% in the real world, but it also has an anachronistically diverse cast.

Looks like it's still a musical, so I'm never going to bother to see it.

Questionmarktarius posted...

no, it's not.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-11-08/disney-earnings-fourth-quarter-streaming-loses-1-5-billion-hulu-espn-chapek

That was explained why the had a 4th quarter loss back then.

They lost a ton of subscriptions because they stopped carrying cricket in India.

1st quarter 2023 turned a profit.

Good, Disney should go back to animation.

KhlavicLanguage posted...

Aladdin made over a billion, on a budget of not even $200mil

Oh? That's good. I liked it a lot.

It seems a bit early to call it dead when it hasn't even been out for two weeks though.

Stallion_Prime posted...

The movie wasn't very good in the first place tbh

Only thing I remember about the movie growing up was the song under the sea, and the McDonalds happy meal toys.https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/2/AAewYGAAEil2.jpg

kiwimyweewee posted...

I always find it funny like a bunch of grown ass dudes whining about little mermaid but trying to act like hardasses at the same time.

Like aww man did they ruin Little Mermaid for you big strong maga bro. Was that your favorite movie? Little mermaid?

Bizarre talking point. I think you're trying too hard.

BakonBitz posted...

Bizarre talking point. I think you're trying too hard.

Making fun of grown men whining about children's media is pretty trivial, so doubtful.

bigblu89 posted...

That was explained why the had a 4th quarter loss back then.

They lost a ton of subscriptions because they stopped carrying cricket in India.

1st quarter 2023 turned a profit.

It was also dirt cheap for Disney+ iirc in India. So it's not as big of a deal as they made it out to be.

Quezovercoatl posted...

It seems a bit early to call it dead when it hasn't even been out for two weeks though.

Movie box office trends are usually pretty easy and fairly accurate to predict based on opening weekends and the second weekend drop-off. People who do it for a living are really good at it.

Quezovercoatl posted...

It seems a bit early to call it dead when it hasn't even been out for two weeks though.

The growing competition and the fact that the film is over two hours long is why it's projected to flop right now, it's just a matter of how much.

it's projected to break even while barely still isn't a flop a flop is a movie that didn't even get close to breaking even it's budget
honestly all this will do is maybe give disney to shelf it's live action movies and focus on 3D and animation again

I thought the movie was good and airels performance was great, but arent there a lot of people who get upset about things like if a non gay person portrays a gay character or how a voice actor must be the same skin color or ethnicity of the character theyre portraying? All the flack this movie is getting seems to be coming from that angle..which is silly imo, bc whomever can perform the part best should absolutely get the role

You know, this topic is the first time I realized Flounder... he's not a flounder, is he.

What's up with his name.

gikos posted...

it's projected to break even while barely still isn't a flop a flop is a movie that didn't even get close to breaking even it's budget
honestly all this will do is maybe give disney to shelf it's live action movies and focus on 3D and animation again

I think you could still consider that a flop. It's not a disaster, but Disney was counting on this being a major hit and bringing in serious money. Instead it will probably not even pull a profit. That's a huge issue for Disney.

sure they might not be pleased with the results and might make some profits off the disney+ but it's a far cry being a disaster some are making it out to be even you agree it's not all this will do is stove off disney from live action for a while after mulan and this reception
tho i hope if they go back to animation i want new fairly tales story with more diverse cast down the line

VFalcone posted...

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed the trend going on with movie runtime. Back in the day, movies over 2 hours were a rarity and considered very long. Nowadays, almost 2.5 hours is the average length. That wouldn't be a problem if the average movie of today was actually good, but the majority of movies that come out these days are mediocre or outright trash/boring.

It's like every damn movie HAS to be almost 2.5hrs now. Some are even pushing it past 3hrs now. It's getting ridiculous. These movies do not deserve to go past 90min.

EDIT: Shit, the original Little Mermaid was only 83 minutes. Why is the new one 135?

The Super Mario movie was a little over 90 minutes, and it worked.

I mean, once you factor in merchandise, the total money from all sources the film will bring in will beat out the total cost to make/advertise. But, not by much.

Box office wise, it's pretty terrible. They had Memorial Day weekend and virtually no competition, and basically every Disney LAR is guaranteed to hit or get close to a billion. This not even getting half of that is a big whiff.

VFalcone posted...

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed the trend going on with movie runtime. Back in the day, movies over 2 hours were a rarity and considered very long. Nowadays, almost 2.5 hours is the average length. That wouldn't be a problem if the average movie of today was actually good, but the majority of movies that come out these days are mediocre or outright trash/boring.

It's like every damn movie HAS to be almost 2.5hrs now. Some are even pushing it past 3hrs now. It's getting ridiculous. These movies do not deserve to go past 90min.

EDIT: Shit, the original Little Mermaid was only 83 minutes. Why is the new one 135?

Across the Spider-verse is the longest American animated movie at 2 hours 20 minutes.

Fortunately for it, the movie is also a 10/10 movie that feels half its length because it's so fucking good.

How many people arguing about whether or not a fictional mermaid should have been black wholeheartedly accept the concept of a lily white Jewish kid born in Israel during antiquity

Is that venn diagram just a circle?

And yes, the casting of Ariel probably affected the score, especially with the Asian markets, in which case blatant racism is at play. That said, the amount of people disregarding that people could be mad at the simple fact that the look of a character they expected to see was drastically altered for no reason is way too high and dishonest.

Having worked on Disney shows, I can also tell you they are on the other end of the spectrum, like affirmative action overdrive - if there's a chance to cast a woman and/or POC, they leap at the chance, regardless of if it makes sense or who or what gets harmed along the way (this applies to directors and film crew members, too). They are currently single-minded in their attempts to check off diversity hiring for the sake of good PR.

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

And yes, the casting of Ariel probably affected the score, especially with the Asian markets, in which case blatant racism is at play. That said, the amount of people disregarding that people could be mad at the simple fact that the look of a character they expected to see was drastically altered for no reason is way too high and dishonest.

Having worked on Disney shows, I can also tell you they are on the other end of the spectrum, like affirmative action overdrive - if there's a chance to cast a woman and/or POC, they leap at the chance, regardless of if it makes sense or who or what gets harmed along the way (this applies to directors and film crew members, too). They are currently single-minded in their attempts to check off diversity hiring for the sake of good PR.

Looking forward to the live action Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, where Snow is Asian, the Prince is Black, the Queen White, and the Dwarves all Hispanic.

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

And yes, the casting of Ariel probably affected the score, especially with the Asian markets, in which case blatant racism is at play. That said, the amount of people disregarding that people could be mad at the simple fact that the look of a character they expected to see was drastically altered for no reason is way too high and dishonest.

Having worked on Disney shows, I can also tell you they are on the other end of the spectrum, like affirmative action overdrive - if there's a chance to cast a woman and/or POC, they leap at the chance, regardless of if it makes sense or who or what gets harmed along the way (this applies to directors and film crew members, too). They are currently single-minded in their attempts to check off diversity hiring for the sake of good PR.

i get why people are annoyed at these head corpo just doing the bare minimum and just ticking a box to pat themselves on the back but on the other hand we need this to get our foot at the door so people can do POC justice in media just cuz one flopped doesn't mean we should give up on diverse casting cuz of a average movie

bigblu89 posted...

That was explained why the had a 4th quarter loss back then.

They lost a ton of subscriptions because they stopped carrying cricket in India.

1st quarter 2023 turned a profit.

This is complete BS. They've lost almost $1 billion every quarter since 2022. They've lost $6 billion total in 6 quarters.

That has little to do with the subs since sub losses don't account for the losses. That's a separate issue.

The losses are from them investing in too much and not bringing in enough to cover the losses.

KTG2 posted...

How many people arguing about whether or not a fictional mermaid should have been black wholeheartedly accept the concept of a lily white Jewish kid born in Israel during antiquity

This conversation has already been driven into the ground, but it's odd to see this line still be used. Disney LAR are supposed to be as close to 1:1 as the animated ones, since that's the entire point. No one is saying mermaids, fictional creatures, all need to be white with red hair. But this is a very specific mermaid with an already famous and established look, making the aforementioned claim moot.

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

Disney LAR are supposed to be as close to 1:1 as the animated ones

who said this? Disney?

Sandalorn posted...

It's utterly amazing that casting a black person in a movie is now "woke" The fucking racism of that is so far off the charts I can't even believe it.

Yea were litersllt seeing people villafy a movie just for casting a black lead in 2023.

Even the Wiz movie didn't get this kinds backlash

AndreLeGeant posted...

But the human royalty are also black. It isn't just the merpeople. The merpeople also - gasp - aren't real. They're played by humans. The casting reflects human perceptions. There's no "mer lore" or something. They made the cast diverse because they wanted the cast diverse, full stop. Whether it made sense or not didn't matter. Lady and the Tramp is set 100% in the real world, but it also has an anachronistically diverse cast.

Making a movie diverse shouldn't be a problem.

Historical accuracy is neither this movies point nor its intent.

If you're going to play this anal angle then you can say the original movie makes no sense because Ariel speaks European modern English which is perfectly compatible with her love interest and their people. Which she also does in this film.

Its laughable to argue on the basis for realism in any capacity without looking silly for a movie like this and that goes for the original too. The literal animals can communicate with humans.

Why is it grown ass adults can just internally understand its a fantasy movie instead of trying to "ground" it?

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

I mean, once you factor in merchandise, the total money from all sources the film will bring in will beat out the total cost to make/advertise. But, not by much.

Box office wise, it's pretty terrible. They had Memorial Day weekend and virtually no competition.

It literally has to survive against a different blockbuster every weekend except the one it released in.

Wtf do you mean no competition? June 2023 is one of the most competitive weekends of the last 3 years.

gikos posted...

i get why people are annoyed at these head corpo just doing the bare minimum and just ticking a box to pat themselves on the back but on the other hand we need this to get our foot at the door so people can do POC justice in media just cuz one flopped doesn't mean we should give up on diverse casting cuz of a average movie

I agree, but Hollywood is taking the very lazy approach to it. Instead of producing unique IPs that actually showcase women/POC, they are content to gender or race swap and call it a day. Which ends up please no one, as fans of (insert established IP here) feel betrayed, and the message to women/POC is "sorry, the best we can do is a swap job of an established white man series."

It's completely phony.

Did anyone think this would actually make profit?

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

I agree, but Hollywood is taking the very lazy approach to it. Instead of producing unique IPs that actually showcase women/POC, they are content to gender or race swap and call it a day.

Bullshit.

Nope, woman King, get out, soul, Us, and many others have been produced the last few years. And thats just black ppl.

Crazy rich asians, turning red, Raya and the last dragon, EEAAO, many manynothers have begun to feature minority leads.

Halle got cast because she outdid thousands of others. And it shows in the movie. I am confident in stating with certainty none of those other girls would've sang that part of your world song better than her. She was the best person for the job, and for them to turn her down because of her race would have been so backwards its not even funny.

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

I agree, but Hollywood is taking the very lazy approach to it. Instead of producing unique IPs that actually showcase women/POC, they are content to gender or race swap and call it a day. Which ends up please no one, as fans of (insert established IP here) feel betrayed, and the message to women/POC is "sorry, the best we can do is a swap job of an established white man series."

It's completely phony.

Who gives a damn, though? There's not some purity test these companies need to pass.

And they do still make original POC characters. Hell they have a couple of original African based cartoons coming up soon, too.

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

Disney LAR are supposed to be as close to 1:1 as the animated ones, since that's the entire point.

nah they don't a live action should try to change things to spice up otherwise it's a waste of time if it's a 1:1 carbon copy which is why disney remakes them and gives it to new actors and POC portray them so more people feel represented in these movies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTwxMoWNa4Y

Toonstrack posted...

It literally has to survive against a different blockbuster every weekend except the one it released in.

Yeah, that's not how it works, where it's opening weekend is almost always the biggest rake, and it tapers off from there. It WAS the lone blockbuster on it's opening weekend. It was still competing with Week 2 of Fast X, but that isn't exactly the same demographic, and Fast X itself has had a pretty poor showing. It had to go up against Spider-Man the week after, sure, but it had a huge drop even accounting for that, showing that it didn't have the staying power despite fairly advantageous circumstances.

Beveren_Rabbit posted...

to be fair the recent live action remakes are flopping due to racism/alt+right

Partially, maybe even largely. There is the issue that they kind of suck, though. Although that doesnt seem to affect other movies that make bank despite being sort of awful.

zombei FYI that is scotty's alt and he got it suspended for his shitposting about trans people in his topic so i advice not to take his post as being genuine

ZevLoveDOOM posted...

so i wonder, when Disney reaches a point where they have nothing left to remake, what then? they gonna remake the remakes? lol

they're already remaking Moana. I swear if they do freakin """live action""" Zootopia

Toonstrack posted...

Bullshit.

Nope, woman King, get out, soul, Us, and many others have been produced the last few years. And thats just black ppl.

Crazy rich asians, turning red, Raya and the last dragon, EEAAO, many manynothers have begun to feature minority leads.

Sigh. Yes, of course they do, they always have. Don't get pedantic on my wording choice. It's basically a dual approach to "take established whitey IP, convert to X, viola". Which is why stuff like Get Out and EEAAO should be applauded over the other, obvious PR cash-grab attempts. The rise of more Asian-centric casting is obvious for a pivot to the Chinese market.

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

Yeah, that's not how it works, where it's opening weekend is almost always the biggest rake, and it tapers off from there. It WAS the lone blockbuster on it's opening weekend. It was still competing with Week 2 of Fast X, but that isn't exactly the same demographic, and Fast X itself has had a pretty poor showing. It had to go up against Spider-Man the week after, sure, but it had a huge drop even accounting for that,

So it had to compete against a major decade long franchises second weekend,destroyed that, in a weekend that is historically weak for Disney live actions(alladin also didnt do great that weekend), it then went on to have a sub 50% drop domestically in week 2 against the biggest OW of this year, and in a few foreign markets it actually outgrossed spiderverse with its second weekend intake.

Its holding quite solidly. If its budget wasn't so astronomical it would already be nearing profit stage.

It still hasn't even released in a few countries, namely Japan which tends to love musicals and disney. It's 100% making a profit. The question is how much will it hold. Transformers and flash have zero overlap with this films audience.

BakonBitz posted...

Bizarre talking point. I think you're trying too hard.

Not bizarre. Bunch of grown ass people whining about who's in a children's movie.

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

Sigh. Yes, of course they do, they always have. Don't get pedantic on my wording choice. It's basically a dual approach to "take established whitey IP, convert to X, viola". Which is why stuff like Get Out and EEAAO should be applauded over the other, obvious PR cash-grab attempts. The rise of more Asian-centric casting is obvious for a pivot to the Chinese Disney.

Chinese movies have always had a market its just they were usualg marital arts only. You need to stop letting lazily regurgitated political takes influence your rationality.

But EEAAO barely did numbers.

Irs just not reoaizyic to expect them to put all their eggs on the indie film basket for diversity. And I think you know this. Added to this is the fact that despite what many of you try and insinuate, race swapping to black characters or others is not anywhere NEAR a modern trend. Harvey demt was race swapped 40 years ago. Catwoman was race swapped earlier than that. Kingpins first on screen appearance was race swapped.

Sheiky-Baby posted...

Only thing I remember about the movie growing up was the song under the sea, and the McDonalds happy meal toys.https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/2/AAewYGAAEil2.jpg

That bird is laying there like Flounder just gave him the most sloppy toppy of all time.

https://youtu.be/twVvnr7bOw4

Toonstrack posted...

flash have zero overlap with this films audience.

You know you say this but the color grading was criticized since the first trailer for looking like something Zack Snyder directed.

I wish theyd stop these live action and just diversify new animated features.

Crushed515151 posted...

I wish theyd stop these live action and just diversify new animated features.

Why not both?

Toonstrack posted...

So it had to compete against a major decade long franchises second weekend,destroyed that

It was still competing with Week 2 of Fast X, but that isn't exactly the same demographic, and Fast X itself has had a pretty poor showing.

Toonstrack posted...

in a weekend that is historically weak for Disney live actions(alladin also didnt do great that weekend)

Source? Aladdin was the 5th biggest Memorial Weekend launch EVER, and only The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast bested it in raw opening totals.

Toonstrack posted...

it then went on to have a sub 50% drop domestically in week 2 against the biggest OW of this year, and in a few foreign markets it actually outgrossed spiderverse with its second weekend intake.

Its holding quite solidly. If its budget wasn't so astronomical it would already be nearing profit stage.

Did you not read the OP article? The entire point is it is NOT holding solidly.

Also, you can't just say "well, if not for it's big budget, it would already be making money!" since, no shit, that's how profit fucking works for anything.

Arguing isn't your strong suit.

Toonstrack posted...

Transformers and flash have zero overlap with this films audience.

And yet Fast X does? Or even Spider-Man (maaaayyybbeee a little, if for no other reason they are both animated with a draw for the children market).

Beveren_Rabbit posted...

you can dislike the film all you want but please be respectful and not make fun of Awkwafina's appearance.

Her song is one of the worst things I've heard in a musical, flat out.