The Little Mermaid live-action remake of Disney’s 1989 animated classic made a splash at the box office on Memorial Day weekend, bringing in almost $100m in North America, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
The film starring Halle Bailey, winning praise from critics as the titular mermaid Ariel, and Melissa McCarthy as her sea witch nemesis, Ursula, ranks as the fifth biggest Memorial Day weekend opening on record.
It displaces Fast X in the top spot. The 10th installment in the Fast and Furious franchise starring Vin Diesel has lagged behind more recent releases in the series, bringing in $23m domestically for a two-week total of $108m for Universal Pictures.
In its fourth weekend, Disney and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 made an estimated $20m in North America to take third place. It’s now made $299m total so far.
Fourth went to Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie, which keeps reaching new levels in its eighth weekend. Now available to rent on VOD, it still earned $6.3m in theaters.
Reviews by the Guardian praise Bailey as an “unmitigated triumph” while calling the new version of The Little Mermaid “bland but good-natured” and also referring to racist attacks via rightwing media on the casting of a Black woman as the lead character.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday were calculated at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.
The film hit theaters as humans gathered in real life for the California Mermaid Convention, a glittery and diverse gathering where hundreds became “merpeople” for the weekend.
