Halle Bailey On The Cultural Impact Playing Ariel In ‘The Little Mermaid’: “It Means The World To Me”

A whole new generation of little girls are falling in love with “The Little Mermaid” and that’s thanks to Halle Bailey.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Thirty five years after the animated story of Ariel, a flame-haired siren of the sea who falls for a prince, charmed audiences, a live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid” dominated the Memorial Day weekend box office. The Disney release is on track to debut to a massive $118 million over the four-day holiday, with $96 million of that coming over the weekend. It ranks as the fifth highest Memorial Day opening in history. The film got a lift from many of the same moviegoers who first fell in love with Ariel when she flitted across the screen in 1988, as well as from the generations of fans who weren’t alive when the original movie opened, but who were nevertheless weaned on the classic from its various appearances on DVD, television, and later streaming. The live action “Little Mermaid” (and “live action” is doing a lot of lifting here considering the sheer tonnage of CGI required to bring Ariel’s ocean home to life), was directed by Rob Marshall and stars Halle Bailey as the title character. Melissa McCarthy plays Ursula, the malevolent sea witch who steals Ariel’s voice in return for giving her legs and a chance to canoodle with the dreamy Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King). Javier Badem, Awkwafina and Daveed Diggs round out the ensemble.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor To bring Disney’s iconic mermaid princess Ariel to life in “The Little Mermaid,” costume designer Colleen Atwood constructed a life-sized tail that went from star Halle Bailey’s chest all the way down past her legs. “We made it to scale and 3D silk-screened the tail and painted onto that so you could get the nuance of the colors,” Atwood says. “We used different layers of sheer material, which gave the tail and scales an iridescent effect.” Her biggest challenge was blending the tail’s scales into Bailey’s skin. “I solved that by putting little fins made of fabric so there was a delineation between where the fish ended and the skin began,” she says.

The Little Mermaid” is making quite the splash at the domestic box office this weekend, with an opening day total of $38 million. The fantasy, which is opening in 4,320 theaters, is expected to gross between $120 million and $130 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend. The musical remake, starring Halle Bailey as the mermaid princess Ariel, took in $10.3 million in previews on Thursday, ranking as the seventh-highest haul for a movie rated G or PG. That puts the film on track to gross well over $100 million over the holiday weekend. With a $250 million production budget, “The Little Mermaid” must bait box office success in order to make a reasonable return.

In a blink and you’ll maybe miss it moment, the original Ariel, Jodi Benson, pops up in the new live action version of The Little Mermaid.

 gives audiences a mix of their favorite classics with modern tweaks, including three new songs and several updates to the soundtrack's iconic tunes.The music reflects the film's refreshed story, which director Rob Marshall, producer John DeLuca, and screenwriter David Magee have explained they tweaked to implement specific changes showcasing a more modern Disney princess, addressing criticism that the original film featured a young woman who was too wrapped up in a man, and giving Ariel more agency.The soundtrack features the vocal talents of the film's new cast, including GRAMMY-nominated singer Halle Bailey as the titular mermaid, Princess Ariel, Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, and Javier Bardem as King Triton, with Daveed Diggs as the voice of Sebastian the crab, Jacob Tremblay as Flounder, and Awkwafina as Scuttle.Lin-Manuel Miranda, who teamed up with legendary composer-songwriter Alan Menken to write the film's new songs, previously told ET that «getting to write music for these characters that are probably the reason I started writing musicals in the first place, was actually easier than I thought.»«But the hardest part was my own intimidation working with Alan Menken, and that was entirely self-imposed,» acknowledged Miranda, who also serves as a producer on the film, alongside Marc Platt. «But when it came to how these characters speak and what they say, I've known that all my life.

is giving viewers the classic fairytale with several modern-day tweaks. The Rob Marshall-directed musical stars Halle Bailey as the titular, headstrong princess, a drastic departure from her previous depiction that initially garnered racist backlash.But Bailey's casting is only one of the changes made to the new live-action adaptation, which also stars Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, and Javier Bardem as King Triton, with Daveed Diggs as the voice of Sebastian the crab, Jacob Tremblay as Flounder, and Awkwafina as Scuttle.Here are 15 ways the remake differs from the original.

Jordan Moreau Disney’s live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid” is beginning its box office swim with $10.3million in previews. It opens in 4,320 theaters on Friday. Thursday’s preview haul is the seventh-highest ever for a G- or PG-rated movie. “The Little Mermaid” also picked up $850,000 from Wednesday early access screenings. Starring singer and actor Halle Bailey as Ariel, the new movie is projected to open with $100 million this holiday weekend. With Memorial Day on Monday, its four-day total could land between $120 million and $125 million. “The Little Mermaid” is expected to make a big splash as one of Disney’s more successful live-action remakes. In comparison, Disney’s most recent remake, the 2019 photorealistic and computer animated “The Lion King,” roared with a $191 million opening from $23 million in previews. It went on to make more than $1 billion globally. And just a couple months before “The Lion King” released, the live-action “Aladdin” opened with $117 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend (from $7 million in previews) and also cracked $1 billion worldwide.

Khloe Kardashian threw an incredible private screening of Disney’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, a day before the official release of the movie. The highly-anticipated reboot of the 1989 animated film is set to be released in the US and UK on Friday May 26, with Halle Bailey starring as Ariel.

Jonah Hauer-King is the latest actor to become a Disney Prince, but he faced stiff competition for the part!

Disney’s remake of The Little Mermaid has been released – check it out below.Directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago), the live-action remake stars Halle Bailey as Ariel, alongside Jonah Hauer-King as Eric, Daveed Diggs as the voice of Sebastian, Awkwafina as the voice of Scuttle and Jacob Tremblay as the voice of Flounder.Other cast members include Javier Bardem as King Triton, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula and Noma Dumezweni as new character Queen Selina, who is Eric’s mother.Alan Menken, who scored and co-wrote songs for the 1989 original, returned to compose the soundtrack for the remake. Along with reworking original classics, Menken co-wrote four new songs with Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, In The Heights).Those four new songs include a rap-led track called ‘The Scuttlebutt’ for Awkwafina, a new song for Ariel titled ‘For The First Time’ and Prince Eric’s ‘Wild Uncharted Waters’.You can check out the full tracklist and stream the soundtrack below.Speaking to Deadline about adding a new song for Ariel, Marshall said: “Ariel had one song, and we had to hear more from her, even though she loses her voice to become a human.

The live-action version of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, starring Halle Bailey as Ariel and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, is now in theaters.

We’re just one day away from The Little Mermaid officially hitting theaters!

 when she was five, . “When I saw her, [I was] like, ‘She’s so beautiful; I want to be a mermaid too.’ She didn’t look like me, but I was okay with that because it was what I was used to at the time.” The next generation doesn't have to see things that way, though, and videos of with whom they identified have flooded the internet since Bailey was cast. “When I saw those [videos] for the first time, I just cried,” Bailey says.

The Little Mermaid” cast did their best at playing Variety’s “Name That Fish” on the red carpet at the movie’s premiere in Los Angeles Melissa McCarthy (Ursula), Jacob Tremblay (Flounder), Noma Dumezweni (Queen Selina), Daveed Diggs (Sebastian) and Javier Bardem (King Triton) were put to the test by Variety’s Marc Malkin to see just how much they know about life under the sea. When quizzed with images of various fish, answers included “basketball with spikes,” “sad fish,” “not Spongebob,” “swordy-thing” “not edible” and “definitely a fish.”

The Little Mermaid is a beloved Disney animated film that has inspired fans since it first was released in 1989. Mermaids, a Disney Prince, catchy songs and animal sidekicks - the film was destined to be a crowd favourite.

Jodi Benson, the actor that gave voice to Disney’s animated film The Little Mermaid, is showing her support for the live-action adaptation starring Halle Bailey.

Disney’s return to live-action takes of their animated vault in the fullest theatrical form happens this weekend with Rob Marshall’s The Little Mermaid which is eyeing a $180M worldwide start.

boasts a star-studded cast that loves one thing even more than working together --  about their time working together!Speaking with ET's Nischelle Turner ahead of the film's May 26 release, Melissa McCarthy and Javier Bardem, who portray Ursula and King Triton, respectively, couldn't help but gush about their leading lady, Halle Bailey.When asked about their favorite song from the new film, Bardem can't help but praise Bailey's rendition of Princess Ariel's iconic tune, «Part of Your World.»«What she does with her voice in that song, it's very special. And also, it's the first song in the movie,» he notes.

Disney’s live-action “The Little Mermaid” — the highly anticipated and revamped musical starring Halle Bailey — is finally here to take us back under the sea. The music by Oscar-winner Alan Menken that made the first one a hit is also back, but these songs have been rewritten for the live version with help from Lin-Manuel Miranda.