Disney’s live-action “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.
“Fast X,” the tenth installment in the “Fast and Furious” franchise, debuted last weekend to a cool $67 million Stateside. This weekend, it’s estimated to bring in about $28 million over the four-day holiday weekend, which clearly puts in second place after “The Little Mermaid.”
“Fast X” is expected to cross the $500 million mark at the global box office this weekend, making it the third-highest grosser of the year globally.
“The Little Mermaid” is directed by Rob Marshall and also stars Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, Javier Bardem as King Triton, Daveed Diggs as Sebastian the crab, Jacob Tremblay as Flounder the fish and Awkwafina as Scuttle the seabird. It’s received mixed reviews, currently holding a 66% on Rotten Tomatoes. Variety‘s Peter Debruge, however, raved in his review that “Halle Bailey is all the reason that any audience should need to justify Disney revisiting this classic.”