Little Mermaid Emerges a Winner

Live-action remake dethrones 'Fast X'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 28, 2023 2:35 PM CDT
Little Mermaid Emerges a Winner
This image released by Disney shows Halle Bailey as Ariel in "The Little Mermaid."   (Disney via AP)

The Little Mermaid made moviegoers want to be under the sea on Memorial Day weekend. Disney's live-action remake of its 1989 animated classic easily outswam the competition, bringing in $95.5 million on 4,320 screens in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday. And Disney estimates the film starring Halle Bailey as the titular mermaid Ariel and Melissa McCarthy as her sea witch nemesis Ursula will reach $117.5 million by the time the holiday is over. It ranks as the fifth-biggest Memorial Day weekend opening ever, the AP reports.

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 $23 million domestically for a two-week total of $108 million for Universal Pictures. In its fourth weekend, Disney and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 made an estimated $20 million in North America to take third place. It's now made $299 million domestically. Other new releases sank. The Machine, an action comedy starring stand-up comedian Bert Kreischer, finished fifth with $4.9 million domestically. And About My Father, the broad comedy starring stand-up Sebastian Maniscalco and Robert De Niro, was sixth with $4.3 million.

Below are estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:

  1. The Little Mermaid, $95.5 million.
  2. Fast X, $23 million.
  3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, $20 million.
  4. The Super Mario Bros. Movie, $6.3 million.
  5. The Machine, $4.9 million.
  6. About My Father, $4.3 million.
  7. Kandahar, $2.4 million.
  8. You Hurt My Feelings, 1.4 million.
  9. Evil Dead Rise, $1 million.
  10. Book Club, The Next Chapter, $920,000.
(More box office stories.)

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