Disney Spends $300 Million On Over Budget little Mermaid Movie:
The latest installment of The Little Mermaid, which came out over Memorial Day weekend, has been a big hit, making more money at the box office than a number of Disney favorites.
The live-action version of the 1989 cartoon hit, which starred Halle Bailey as Ariel, has made a huge $569 million worldwide since it came out. More than $298 million of that amount came from people in the United States and Canada.
The huge price tag blows the budget way out of the water. Variety said that the movie would have “a $250 million production budget,” as well as there’s a good reason why it blew past that.
It Finally Got Going At Pinewood Studios In January 2021:
Filming was supposed to start in the UK between late March and the start of April 2020, but the pandemic kept getting in the way.
It finally got started during January 2021 at Pinewood Studios, which is just outside of London. However, it had to be put on hold in June because several crew members got COVID-19. All of this cost a lot.
The impressive total puts the fantasy musical in sixth place among the highest-grossing movies in North America, one spot ahead of Avatar: The Way of Water, which has made $283 million, and one spot behind Oppenheimer, which has made $322 million.
By The Conclusion Of August Of Last Year, The Movie’s Budget Had Grown To Almost $300 Million. But a new story from Caroline Reid at Forbes says that the film’s budget “grew to nearly $300 million by the final day of August last year, 8 months prior to the film opened.”
Reid’s story is based on documents filed in the UK, where she found that the film’s production company was listed as a unit of the Walt Disney Company. These documents additionally demonstrate that Disney did get a tax refund of about £46.6 million, which is about $56.8 million. So, the total budget would go down to $240,2 million.
Other Post-Production Costs Are Not Included In This Report:
But that net number might be low because her figures don’t seem to account for currency changes or inflation, and the costs for putting on The Little Mermaid go back to 2019.
Also, since the last report was from August 2022 as well as the movie didn’t come out until May 2023, it’s possible that another report could come in with more costs.
Reid does say that this file does not contain other post-production costs, which could run in the tens of millions of dollars. Since the Oscar-winning cartoon version came out 34 years ago, prices have to be adjusted for inflation and funds must be taken into account.
The Cost Of Making The Movie From 1989 Was $40 Million:
The budget for the 1989 movie was $40 million, while the budget for the 2023 version was $250 million. When a business has more money, it can spend more on advertising.
When compared to other Disney classics, the new version of The Little Mermaid, which made more than $95 million in its first weekend, is by far the most successful.
The cartoon version of Aladdin, which came out in 1992 and has voice players like the late Robin Williams as well as Gilbert Gottfried, has made $504 million at the box office around the world in the 30 years since it came out.
The Movie Has Lost More Than Twice As Much As Most People Thought It Would:
Still, if you use Reid’s rough estimate of the production budget, which is $297 million after changing from £243.5 million, the film’s losses are more than double what many people thought they would be based on the $250 million estimate.
The Numbers says that The Little Mermaid only grossed $569.1 million around the world, alongside $298.1 million coming from North America as well as $270.9 million from other countries.
With a budget of $250 million, the movie had to make a minimum of $625 million to break even. Of course, the movie didn’t do that, so it’s estimated that it lost just under $60 million.
But if you change the production budget to the fresh figure of $297 million that the UK government gave, the break-even point goes to $742,500,000. So, the amount of money lost has gone up to $127.8 million.
Around The World, Beauty As Well As The Beast Has Made Just Under $425 Million:
The 1991 cartoon film Beauty and the Beast has been a favorite for a long time. It has made just under $425 million worldwide upon a budget of $25 million.
Pocahontas was one of the few famous Disney animated movies that hasn’t been turned into a live-action movie. Since it came out in 1995, it has made $346 million. The movie cost $55 million to make, and stars like Mel Gibson as well as Christian Bale did voice work for it.
The Truth Is That Star Trek Movies Don’t Bring In Money For Marvel:
“The truth is that Star Trek movies don’t bring in money for Marvel. They build maybe $500 million at most, and on the scale they’ve set, it costs $200 million to make one now.
To make a profit, you need to earn three times that amount.” If you need to make three times the cost of making a movie to break even, The Little Mermaid needs to make at least $891 million. Then, it would have lost $180 million.