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Disney’s race-swapped Little Mermaid a flop in China—possibly worst 2023 opening: report
Disney's new The Little Mermaid film, starring black actress Halle Bailey as the main character Ariel, has a Chinese poster that obscures the character's race, as the film is on track to flop in the Communist-led country.
According to Comic Book Resources, "the film is likely to be Disney's worst-performing Chinese release this year," and has only earned $13,000 in pre-sales.
In comparison, Cruella, the last Disney live-action adaptation to hit Chinese theaters, grossed 1.6 million upon opening, and Mulan grossed $307,000 in one day of presales and $23 million upon opening.
According to Variety, in addition to minimizing Boyega, they cut out additional non-white characters entirely for the Chinese poster.
According to CNN, Chinese state media denied the change was due to racism in the country.
Currently, The Little Mermaid sits at a 71 percent critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The New York Post review said, "Despite real actors, CGI and brand new material, 'Mermaid' is the studio’s latest flesh-and-blood cash grab that’s more lifeless than far better two-dimensional painted drawings."
Original Ariel Voice Actor Jodi Benson Supports Disney’s Changes To Iconic ‘The Little Mermaid’ Songs: “It’s 2023, So We Have To Grow, We Have To Learn”
Jodi Benson, who voiced Ariel in The Walt Disney Company’s The Little Mermaid in 1989, recently declared her support for the upcoming film’s changes to iconic songs from the original animated film.
In an interview with Vanity Fair at the end of March, composer Alan Menken revealed he and The Walt Disney Company made changes to “Kiss the Girl” and “Poor Unfortunate Souls.”
Menken explained not only that they made the changes, but why they made the changes telling the outlet, “There are some lyric changes in “Kiss the Girl” because people have gotten very sensitive about the idea that [Prince Eric] would, in any way, force himself on [Ariel].”
He added, “We have some revisions in “Poor Unfortunate Souls” regarding lines that might make young girls somehow feel that they shouldn’t speak out of turn, even though Ursula is clearly manipulating Ariel to give up her voice.”
Now, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Benson voiced her support for the changes to “Kiss the Girl” and “Poor Unfortunate Souls.”
She told the outlet, “We’re talking about starting our [voiceover] sessions in ’86 [for the original film]. It’s 2023, so we have to grow, we have to learn, we have to be aware of our surroundings.”
“We’ve got to be aware of our growth as humans and what’s important now and what maybe isn’t as important,” she said. “Things change. We’ve got to roll with that. I think that Rob and John have done a beautiful job of doing that, and still paying tribute and honor to our original film. But you’ve got to have growth.”
She continued to justify the changes saying, “It’s very important to stay relevant with where we are, what’s going on around us. We need to be aware. So the adjustments and the fine-tuning that they needed to do, it was a must, but it was done in a beautiful way, and I’m very, very thrilled with it.”
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BynvNM_uWu4
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