The movie comes to theatres on Friday, May 26, but the release has been years in the making. "Oh, gosh, it felt like we had four babies. It took four years, four and a half years. It was such a sense of relief, accomplishment, joy, pride," said Rob Marshall, the director and producer of "The Little Mermaid."
Production was expected to begin in London between late March and early April 2020 but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, before ultimately took place from January to July 2021, primarily at Pinewood Studios in England and on the island of Sardinia, Italy.
How did they film The Little Mermaid 2023 underwater scenes?
The Little Mermaid director, Rob Marshall, who has worked on other Disney projects, including Mary Poppins and Pirates of the Caribbean, filmed most of the underwater scenes on blue screen soundstages in London. The team behind The Little Mermaid also used nautical footage as inspiration to create the ocean scenery.
How much did Halle Bailey get paid for The Little Mermaid?
It's believed that Bailey made about $1.5 million for her role as Ariel in The Little Mermaid, but that number could increase depending on how well the film performs opening weekend and beyond.
How much did The Little Mermaid cost to make 2023?
What Was the Budget for The Little Mermaid? The 2023 remake is estimated to have cost around $250 million to make and $140 million in global marketing spend, although Disney hasn't officially released the exact budget/cost of production.
In the case of The Little Mermaid, Disney's $284.8 million share of the box office left it with a $44.6 million profit after deducting its $240.2 million net spending.
"When I chose Halle for the role, it was literally because she was the best person for the role," Marshall says. "It's about who claims a role, who brings a role to life in a way you could never have imagined."
Rather, Ursula's appearance is radically different from her family, and she sports tentacles that look like a permanent black dress. It's possible Ursula is not a mermaid in appearance because she and Triton did not have the same mother or father. If they're half siblings, Ursula's tentacles make more sense.
In this novel, Ursula is King Triton's younger sister who was betrayed by him as a child for choosing a tentacled form instead of a mermaid's tail, and grew up as a human in the town of Ipswich with an adoptive human father.
Each shot was body tracked and then animated over the top. Everything from the clavicle down became CG, and of course digital hair was added to every actor as well as the animated body. There are a lot of very long shots in the film, many 30 seconds-plus, so often we'd use multiple live-action takes for one shot.
Director Rob Marshall reveals what it was like seeing Halle Bailey's initial audition for Ariel. “The first actor we saw for this role was Halle. The first thing she did is she came in and sang for us.
So, why the change? One theory is that each of Ariel's sisters represents different oceans that are home to various cultures and ethnicities. It's pretty problematic to have mermaids who all look the same representing such an expansive underwater world.
While Ariel is 16 years old in Disney animated The Little Mermaid film, her love interest is not the same age. The character's voice actor, Christopher Daniel Barnes, was just 16 years old at the time of recording the film, leading to the assumption that the character was intended to be the same age.
Chloe Bailey was left in distress after she recently accidentally ate a beef burger, interrupting 10 years of dedicated veganism. The singer, 25, and her younger sister Halle Bailey, 23, have both been vegans for the last decade and have been outspoken about their dietary choices.
“I think out of everything, that's the thing that gets under my skin the most when people are comparing us because we are best friends, we're sisters," she said. "Sometimes we forget that we're not twins and it's like, don't mess with my blood. Don't mess with her."
In Disney's nearly 100-year history, there has been only one Black Disney princess — Princess Tiana in “The Princess and the Frog,” a 2009 animated feature starring Anika Noni Rose.
Lizzo showcased her audition for The Little Mermaid's Ursula in a since-privated viral video. She didn't get the part, but she "was down to make Ursula a THOT, shaking ass." The role went to Melissa McCarthy, whom Lizzo met during a taping of Adele's "One Night Only" concert.
In efforts to underline moral values, Hans would use tints of Christian stories and practices into Andersen's fairy tales underlying Christian moral values. Although religious references are not present in all of Hans' works, Christian morals and beliefs were very much alive in the "Little Mermaid".
Ariel from “The Little Mermaid” has been headcanoned as autistic, because no one who sings a song about wanting to not just learn about an interest, but literally be in that world, is neurotypical.
