‘The Little Mermaid’: How Halle Bailey’s Representation For Young Black Girls ‘Heals’ Her (Exclusive)

The Little Mermaid has been criticized by a prominent media diversity advocate for failing to acknowledge the horrors of slavery in the Caribbean.

J. Kim Murphy The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has made changes to its rating system for Disney’s live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid” after the new release became the latest target for “review bombing” — a practice in which a production is flooded with negative reviews by users who wield multiple accounts or employ bots to create new ones. Since its release, “The Little Mermaid” has garnered 41,000 user ratings on IMDb. While the film has earned a positive 7.0 (weighted) average score, more than 39% of the ratings are 1 star, the lowest possible option. IMDb has placed a notice on the film’s ratings page, writing that the site’s “rating mechanism has detected unusual voting activity on this title. To preserve the reliability of our rating system, an alternate weighting calculation has been applied.” This message has been employed before by IMDb in the cast of other atypical user score patterns.

Unless you’ve been living under a pop culture rock for the last couple of months, you’ll know that Disney’s live-action adaptation of the 1989 classic, The Little Mermaid has just dropped in cinemas. Everywhere. Starring Halle Bailey as Ariel, Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, there was no holding back on any aspect of this film.

K.J. Yossman Jonah Hauer-King can currently be seen swimming up a storm alongside Halle Bailey in Disney’s live-action “The Little Mermaid” but for his next project he’s part of a different world – “World on Fire.” The PBS and BBC drama series has released first look images from its upcoming second season, showing Hauer-King as a grimy pilot called Harry in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. In the show, which was created by Peter Bowker, he is joined by “The Crown’s” Lesley Manville, Parker Sawyers (“A Discovery of Witches”) and Eugénie Derouand (“The Advent Calendar”).

SPOILER ALERT: This interview includes details about Disney’s The Little Mermaid

It’s safe to say that Paloma Faith isn’t a fan of the new The Little Mermaid movie, with Halle Bailey in the lead role.

had a multiverse long before they acquired Marvel: An unofficial House of Mouse detective sent shockwaves through Disney fandom after floating a rather dark fan theory that links the 1989 animated “Little Mermaid” with 1953’s “Peter Pan,” as seen in a TikTok clip with 6.6 million views.“I can’t believe I just noticed this In The Little Mermaid,” self-proclaimed “movie detective” Ivan Mars exclaimed in the caption to the vid. He frequently posts film-based conspiracy theories to his 2 million TikTok followers like some sort of cinematic “Da Vinci Code” — although users point out that many of his theories originated on Reddit.The latest target for Mars’ cinematic tinfoil hat was the animated “Little Mermaid,” a film that’s been revived in the public conscious with the release of the divisive, live-action adaptation starring Halle Bailey, 23, which took home $48.3 million on its opening night Friday.He specifically posited that Ariel’s mother Athena — who was killed by pirates, per the 2008 sequel “the Little Mermaid III” — was also in “Peter Pan.” Accompanying footage shows a scene from the 1953 classic, in which Pan cavorts with a red-headed dead ringer for Ariel in the Mermaid Lagoon, which coincidentally shares a name with the place where Athena was attacked in the aforementioned sequel.Due to the 36-year gap between “The Little Mermaid” and “Peter Pan,” fans have speculated that a young Athena would’ve probably looked a lot like her daughter at the time, according to Reddit.And given her demise at the hands of pirates, fans suspected that Pan baddie Captain Hook may been to blame.

this weekend! Halle Bailey, who plays Disney's live-action Princess Ariel, also went to see the movie incognito over the film's historic opening weekend.In a TikTok shared on Sunday, the 23-year-old star revealed how she remained undetected by fans, wearing sunglasses and a face mask. Bailey was able to snag a bucket of popcorn — decked out to celebrate the 's premiere of course — and get into a screening of the movie without anyone realizing who she was.

practicing to be a mermaid since she was a kid) or belting the ballad “Part of Your World.” Instead, she lists her castmates’ musical numbers: “Jonah [Hauer-King, who plays Prince Eric, his] song is wonderful — ‘Wild Uncharted Waters’ — his performance of that is iconic. And then ‘The Scuttlebutt’ is amazing.

“The Little Mermaid,” but not for any reason you’re likely imagining. Twitter users criticized the publication and critic Wesley Morris for saying that the children’s movie lacked “kink.”“Disney’s live-action remake of ‘The Little Mermaid,’ with Halle Bailey starring as Ariel and a diverse cast, ‘reeks of obligation and noble intentions,’ Wesley Morris writes,” the viral tweet read.

Clapping back. The Little Mermaid makeup artist Peter Smith King is responding to backlash over Melissa McCarthy’s transformation into Ursula.   

Halle Bailey might be the star of the latest blockbuster movie, but no one recognized her at all when she went to see her own movie this weekend.

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.