‘The Little Mermaid’ Makes Box Office Splash With $117.5 Million Memorial Day Launch

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” enjoyed a $38.9 million (RMB276 million) opening weekend in mainland China. The score was comfortably the biggest by any film between Friday and Sunday and the second biggest opening by a Hollywood film this year in the territory. Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway suggests that the film accounted for some 63% of China’s nationwide gross box office over the weekend. Giant screen systems provider, Imax reported that the film earned $5.9 million of the total from its screen network in China, or some 15% of the China total.

“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” stormed into theatres worldwide this weekend, amassing a staggering $110 million at the international box office. 

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter After less than two weeks of release, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” has surpassed the entire box office run of its predecessor, 2018’s Oscar-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” Over the weekend, the comic book sequel hit $226 million in North America and $390 million globally. It now stands as Sony’s highest-grossing animated release in history. The original film, also a box office winner, tapped out with $190 in North America and $384 million globally. Despite competition from Paramount’s “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” which opened to $60 million and targets a similar audience of younger males, “Spider-Verse” added $55 million in its second weekend of release, a decline of $55% from its huge $120 million debut.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” kicked off at the international box office with $110 million from 68 markets, including a decent $40 million start in China. The seventh installment in Paramount’s action franchise also pulled in $60 million in its North American debut, bringing its worldwide tally to a solid $170 million. Overseas audiences will be key to the theatrical success of “Transformers,” which cost $200 million. Prior entries in the 16-year-old series have earned as much as 70% of overall box office returns outside of the U.S. and Canada. At the international box office, ticket sales for “Rise of the Beasts” are pacing 32% below “Bumblebee,” which is the most recent entry in the series. The newest chapter has managed to set franchise records in eight smaller markets, including Indonesia, Argentina and Peru. The Autobots will take the box office milestones where they can get them.

Paramount/Skydance/Hasbro’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is on the prowl overseas with $43.3M through Friday in 68 markets. This portends a $100M+ international box office debut, in line with projections. The domestic three-day is looking at $60M.

Film and television writers from around the world will be picketing and rallying Wednesday in support of the Writers Guild strike, which is now in its 39th day.

The Pride Atlas by Maartje Hensen takes you on a written and visual journey through 500 of these queer spots, so you can add them to the bucket list of your next trip. Design The Pride Atlas is designed and organized beautifully.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief After a few pandemic-addled years, the global box office is finally ready to feel the warmth of the studios’ tentpole releases. Though the swing-back to pre-pandemic release schedules is happening at different speeds in each market, the quartet of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “Fast X,” “The Little Mermaid” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” — not to mention “The Super Mario Bros Movie” before them — have announced the arrival of Hollywood’s version of summer across much of the planet. France saw admissions climb by 33% in the first five months of 2023, compared with the equivalent period last year, according to data from the CNC (National Film Board). Compared with an average figure for 2017 to 2019, the performance of the 2023 box office is (only) 12% behind. France’s recovery has been powered by a string of successful local films including “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom,” “Alibi.com 2,” “The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan,” “The Crime Is Mine” and Cannes opener “Jeanne du Barry.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” grabbed top place at the mainland China box office over the weekend with an opening $17.2 million (RMB122 million) score. Giant screen company, Imax reports that $2.7 million, or more than 16% of the film’s China total, came from its Middle Kingdom venues. Chinese online ticketing agency Maoyan forecasts that “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” will earn a total of RMB241 million or $34 million at current exchange rates. “Fast X,” which had driven off with the spoils for the past two weekends, was overtaken on its third lap and achieved $7.7 million in second place, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. After 17 days in Chinese cinemas, “Fast X” has accumulated $124 million, making it the highest-grossing imported titled released this year in China ahead of Japanese animation “Suzume.”

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

At Tuesday night’s world premiere of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, there was a huge sigh of relief from the mass of animators inside Westwood’s Regency Village Theater: The $100M-budgeted sequel to the Oscar-winning 2018 animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, was done, having completed post-production literally just 10 days ago after a five-year trek to the screen which included a Covid delay due to the backlog in post-production houses. Starting today abroad, and into Thursday in U.S./Canada, the continuing adventures of Miles Morales will see the light of day in what is expected to be a $150M global opening.

In a rare situation for a Disney tentpole, particularly a live-action title based on a treasured classic animated musical, The Little Mermaid looks to bank more at the domestic box office ultimately than overseas, with $300M-$350M U.S./Canada to $260M abroad.

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”).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Fast X” predictably won a second weekend on top of the mainland China box office, driving its total past the $100 million mark. But the disappointing start for Disney’s live-action “The Little Mermaid” was the bigger talking point. “Fast X” earned $17.6 million in China according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That was a 66% drop compared with its opening weekend, but still gave the film a $110 million cumulative after 12 days and has caused estimates to be further revised upwards. Ticketing agency Maoyan is now forecasting that the film will finish with RMB880 million ($126 million), having previously predicted RMB728 million ($104 million), and then RMB840 million.

Refresh for latest…: Apart from big new opener The Little Mermaid, which we detailed here, this weekend was notable for propelling Universal’s Fast X past the $500M mark globally, and Disney/Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 to over $730M worldwide.

Refresh for latest…: Disney’s live-action take on The Little Mermaid is doing swimmingly at the domestic box office, with a three-day opening of $95.5M and a four-day projection of $117.5M. Factoring in the international box office bow of $68.3M, that makes for an estimated $163.8M global debut through Sunday. The offshore launch is lower than hoped for coming into the frame. But it bears noting there was something fishy going on in overseas markets with so-called review-bombing in such areas as France, Korea, Germany and beyond.

Rotten Tomatoes. Those are the scores this remake will need to keep legging out against a crowded June slate that starts next weekend with “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” But here comes the bad news: “The Little Mermaid” has posted an international opening of just $68 million from 51 markets.

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.

Imax chief executive Rich Gelfond said he’s never seen China let as many U.S. titles into country as early as they have this year. After a slowdown in the pace that caused some angst in Hollywood, there’s been a steady stream of releases — although not necessarily a surge in ticket sales — with The Flash, The Little Mermaid and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny all cleared and upcoming and Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning likely to be, he told the J.P. Morgan media conference today.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Fast & Furious 10” (aka “Fast X”) dominated the mainland China box office with a strong opening weekend and a revved up opening five days. Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway shows Fast X scored $51.1 million between Friday and Sunday, to comfortably top the Chinese box office, with a 58% market share. Unusually, the film opened on a Wednesday. Over five days, it accumulated $77.4 million.Imax reported that the film pulled in $8.4 million from China, accounting for 11 of the China market opening, from fewer than 1% of the screens in the market. The figures reflect the five-day score, not the conventional weekend.