Not a flop?: “The Little Mermaid” remake is in greater demand on Disney+ than ever – but does Disney have anything to gain from it?

• Disney invested too much money in the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, with revenues only slightly covering expenses.
• The film performs better on Disney+ than in the cinema, and the viewing figures are impressive.
• But Disney probably won’t make much money from it.

Costs of $250 million and box office revenue of almost $570 million don’t sound bad at first – but they are. Disney’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid is widely considered a disappointment, not only from a creative perspective but also financially.

The marketing costs, which are not included in the official budget, are said to amount to around 250 million US dollars, so the final profit is very meager. Although “Arielle” is considered the ninth most successful film of 2023, Disney has little to be happy about. The film was too expensive and there wasn’t enough interest, especially internationally.

Cinema no, stream yes

One problem that the launch of the Disney+ streaming service brought with it is that many Disney fans no longer go to the cinema, but simply wait a few weeks until the film appears on the stream. Families with children in particular save a lot of money when they swap a trip to the cinema for an evening at the home cinema.

That’s what seems to be happening with “The Little Mermaid” at the moment, as the film was streamed 16 million times in the first 5 days after Disney+ launched – one of the biggest successes for a film on Disney+.

But does Disney benefit from these high viewing figures and will “Arielle” soon no longer be considered a flop? That depends entirely on how many new subscriptions have been taken out for the film and how many subscribers have kept their subscription just to see “The Little Mermaid” – paying which, of course, only Disney has access to.

Disney makes significantly more money when “Ariel” fans buy the film digitally on Amazon or iTunes, but it is significantly cheaper for viewers to simply subscribe to Disney+ for a month – especially now that the streaming service is available for a short time for 1.99 euros is available per month.

So The Little Mermaid will forever be considered a film that fell short of expectations. However, the film still did better than “Haunted Mansion,” which you can watch on Disney+ from October 4th.