The Little Mermaid is singing her way to a big Memorial Day weekend, with Deadline reporting the live-action remaking earned $10 million plus in its Tuesday previews. This actually beats 2019’s Aladdin, which made $7 million on its way to a gigantic $116.8 million 4-day weekend. Our own box office forecaster predicted The Little Mermaid would earn about $110 million for the weekend, which sounds right on the money. The movie is earning mixed reviews (including mine), but even the naysayers are singling out star Halle Bailey for praise.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Friday matinees do today as The Little Mermaid, being a family film, should play quite well as the kids are out of school for the weekend before their summer vacations start in June. Fast X is likely in for a significant tumble in its move to second place this weekend, with Box Office Pro predicting a 62% decline. Other new releases, including the Gerard Butler action flick Kandahar (which is actually pretty good), About My Father and The Machine are all expected to open in the low single digits, with non-blockbusters still struggling at the box office post-pandemic.
Are you going to see The Little Mermaid this weekend?