Live-Action The Little Mermaid

[pixen]

Melissa McCarthy is a good choice. Yes, she plays the comedy character a lot but she was also pretty great in Can You Ever Forgive Me.

I love Queen Latifah but the live version she performed felt rather underwhelming. I know she could do better on film but it wasn’t a great performance. I could see her getting it though as Rob Marshall cast her before in Chicago.

 

[Silvermoth]

That’s cool. I love the little mermaid but there’s just a little bit more it can have to make it even better

 

[Primal Slayer]

As MarySue said....just more emphasize on Ariel wanting to explore Mans World and Eric being a constellation prize. Not much more has to be done as she makes her own decisions throughout the entire film.

 

[Silvermoth]

Yeah I think a little bit more of Ariel standing up to her dad might be in order and as I’ve said before juicing up that ending, that would make it even more perfect

 

[Silvermoth]

Ok looks like it’s happening

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Ok looks like it's not happening!

 

[Silvermoth]

It’s happening, they’re just pausing production, what a shame. Dark times like this we need art more than ever. I hope Halle Bailey’s career isn’t affected or that she ages out of the role. That would be the hardest thing to deal with, missing out on a big break like this

 

[Silvermoth]

 

[Silvermoth]

 

[Silvermoth]

Exclusive: Disney Circling Kacey Musgraves For Role in The Live-Action 'The Little Mermaid' -

Disney has reportedly had meetings via Zoom with American singer-songwriter and six-time Grammy winner Kacey Musgraves for a role in Disney’s highly-anticipated live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid.

The role we hear she is circling for is Vanessa, the human persona that Ursula transformed into leading to the climax of the second act, creating conflict in the third act, “the end” of The Little Mermaid to stop Ariel from fulfilling the deal with Eric. Through her involvement on the project could be entirely different.

 

[Airwings]

Melissa McCarty feels like a typical but boring choice for this kind of film There's a typical "Disney-remake esque" vibe that casting.
They should have gone for a heavyweight name for Ursula, like Meryl Streep. THAT would have been something.

Also, I would have liked to see Sofia Coppola's take on this. But Disney don't want that, they prefer a generic product that's made by the special effects department, not the director.
So that's why big names leave for "creative differences". PTA & Pinocchio is another example.

 

[terry78]

They don't make money with avant garde.

 

[Drizzle]

They don't make money with avant garde.

The closest they've come is Tim Burton, but Burton was more of an avant-garde director in the beginning of his career with Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands. Most of his films are just Burtonized versions of preexisting IPs that have gotten lazier through the years. Alice in Wonderland did make a ton of money for them, but a lot of that had to do with Johnny Depp still being a superstar at the time and the film being in 3D hot on the heels of Avatar's release. Dumbo of course wasn't as successful, so I doubt that he'll be doing anything else for Disney anytime soon.

 

[RockSP]

Also, I would have liked to see Sofia Coppola's take on this. But Disney don't want that, they prefer a generic product that's made by the special effects department, not the director.

Wasn't the Coppola movie at another studio? What Disney wants doesn't matter in that case.

 

[Airwings]

They don't make money with avant garde.

It's the audience who decides what makes money.
The question is if we prefer generic films in terms of storytelling and tone, as long as the special effects are top class, and the film itself as a whole is of a high technical standard. Then the script doesn't need to be the best quality. Just look at Transformers. I believe every single one of them became a smash at box office.
Or do we want more interesting films, meaning that the adaptions of known properties should dare to do something unusual of the original story. Just having some tweaks that makes the film stick out from the rest.
Who says that "art" can't make money? If it's really good, so.

I'm not going to put people in boxes, but I feel someway that North-Americans for the most tend to like the straight forward adaptions. They want pure entertainment, maybe to a high extent.
There are always some of them that don't like bland blockbusters, but I'm speaking generally. Meaning more than 50%.
USA has a big impact on a film's success because it's a huge part of the audience. Few adaptions that "experiment" with the story/characters/style will become hits. Yes, some will do but it's because those are exceptional good films.

Now, where do we put Europeans and Asians on this scale?

Note that this is only about adaptions, and we can include sequels in an existing franchise too.
Original stories in films is a different thing because then there's nothing to compare with.

All of this can change pretty soon. Dumbo didn't do as good as expected. Aladdin, while earning a lot of money, felt uninteresting. Artemis Fowl is supposedly a train wreck. The red line here is Disney, they did those films.
Now they direct their adaptions to streaming service instead of cinemas. I heard the upcoming Lady and the Tramp is going that way.
In a near future, the audience might turn their backs to the generic stuff. It's already happening now, I think

 

[Airwings]

Wasn't the Coppola movie at another studio? What Disney wants doesn't matter in that case.

Now that you mention it, I'm not sure if it was Disney or not.
If it was another studio, then it wouldn't have been a remake of the 1989 film but rather an adaption of the original story.

There were actually one fairy-tale film about a mermaid girl during the last decade (maybe even two) but it went under the radar.

 

[Gold Samurai]

Cast announcement

 

[Primal Slayer]

Still not impressed Prince Eric!

 

[terry78]

I forgot awkwafina was going to be scuttle

 

[Dr. Evil]

Cast announcement

Yeah, I can see Daveed Diggs singing "Under the Sea" and "Kiss the Girl" really well.

That's a pretty good cast.

 

[Dr. Evil]

I forgot awkwafina was going to be scuttle

She was great in Crazy Rich Asians and in The Farewell.

 

[Silvermoth]

I’m prepared to give Melissa the benefit of the doubt. It’s interesting, whenever we do Eurovision the performer we send there always attends pride and that makes the fan base feel like they “get” it. I would love to see Melissa camping it up at pride.

great get getting Javier as Triton too

 

[Persona]

Cast is fine but Rob Marshall is a non-starter for me.

 

[DarkKnight88]

With so many of the others now going to Disney+, is this still set for a theatrical release? At least currently?

 

[Drizzle]

With so many of the others now going to Disney+, is this still set for a theatrical release? At least currently?

So far, yes. The original film is popular enough to warrant a theatrical release for this so if theaters are fully back to normal this would be a surefire hit like the other remakes of the early '90s Renaissance movies. But I'm curious to see how Sebastian and Flounder look in live action. They have the potential to be more horrifying than Mrs. Potts.