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Forbes Business Hollywood & Entertainment Disney Sinks $300 Million Into “Over Budget” ‘Little Mermaid’ Movie Caroline Reid Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I cover the entertainment industry focusing on movies and theme parks. Following Oct 2, 2023, 12:01pm EDT | Press play to listen to this article! Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Halle Bailey was a controversial choice to play the Little Mermaid © 2022 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disney has revealed that the cost of making the live action version of its classic cartoon The Little Mermaid swelled to nearly $300 million by the end of August last year, eight months before the movie opened. The colossal cost blows its estimated budget out of the water. Variety forecast that the movie had "a $250 million production budget" and there is good reason why it sailed past that. Filming was reportedly due to begin in the United Kingdom between late March and early April 2020 but was repeatedly delayed by the pandemic. It eventually got underway in January 2021 at Pinewood Studios, just outside London, but was temporarily halted in June due to multiple crew members contracting COVID-19. It all came at quite a cost. Recently-released filings from Disney confirm that the "cost exceeded the production budget primarily due to the COVID-19 impact." This isn't the only reason the movie had its work cut out for it before it eventually opened in May this year. Black actress Halle Bailey was cast as the eponymous heroine Ariel in a marked departure from the 1989 cartoon that the movie was based on. It fueled a racist backlash centered on the #notmyariel social media campaign whilst online giant, The Internet Movie Database (IMDb), was awash with negative reviews of The Little Mermaid , posted by bots, in a bid to bring down its average score. MORE FOR YOU Spooked Russians Welded Six-Foot-Tall Drone Armor On A 64-Year-Old T-54B Tank Flashing Red Warning 33 Trillion U S Debt Death Spiral Could Suddenly Trigger A Bitcoin Price Vicious Circle AEW WrestleDream 2023 Results: Winners And Grades As Edge Debuts In the wake of the review bombing, IMDb said it had made changes to its rating system but the movie was already in choppy waters by then. A lot of the criticism focused on its computer-generated graphics which made the once-cute hand-drawn characters look like eerie aliens. "There's something about these depictions that triggers an uneasy response," wrote Vox. "Maybe it's the prolonged, lingering shots on their 'smiling' faces or that their tiny mouths are contorted in unnatural ways. It's as though there’s almost something sinister hiding underneath the computerized animal skin – and that's even before they start singing and dancing." The movie's CGI creatures were widely criticised © 2023 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights ...
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