The live-action version of Disney’s famous animated movie “The Little Mermaid” or “The Little Mermaid” succeeded in achieving $ 117.5 million at the US box office, to be the fifth best opening for a movie shown on the Memorial Day holiday honoring soldiers, according to the “Box” website. Office Mojo.
Previously successful films at the box office included “Top Gun Maverick,” which collected about $160 million, “Pirates of the Caribbean” in its second part, with about $140 million, and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” which grossed $127 million. , and “X-Men” in its third part, as it earned about $ 127 million.
For its part, the movie “The Little Mermaid” faced mixed reactions, as it faced some criticism despite the praise for the performance of its heroine, Halle Berry, who played the role of “Ariel”, as he won the admiration of 67 percent of critics only in their comments on “Routine Tomatoes”. While the public gave it about 95 percent.
The film faced widespread controversy and accusations of racism, but had international ticket sales estimated at $185.8 million over the weekend.
“Disney” is seeking to work on launching new live versions of its most famous animated films, from “Cinderella” to Aladdin, which was also shown for the first time on Memorial Day weekend in 2019, and at that time generated an estimated revenue of 116.8 million. dollars on the weekend.
Live versions of animated films remain evidence of the success of the original films, as they compete to obtain the largest revenues for Disney.
Disney’s financial situation
Broadcasting platforms “Disney+”, “Hulu” and “ESBN+” continue to lose, as operating revenues from cable and broadcast networks decreased by 35 percent due to falling advertising revenues in the first quarter of this year.
From a financial perspective, the Disney resorts and parks division is still a bright spot, as it represents the company’s traditional safety net. That didn’t help solve its earnings problem.
Disney shares fell by more than 5 percent this year, but the company achieved revenues of $21.81 billion during the first quarter of this year, while Refinitiv’s expectations indicated that it would achieve $21.78 billion, and earnings per share reached 93 cents, in line with expectations.
(David Goldman-CNN)
