Disney's live-action 'little Mermaid' becomes most streamed film premiere on Disney+
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| Photo: Disney |
Disney has proudly announced that its recent live-action remake of 'The Little Mermaid' garnered an impressive 16 million views within the first 5 days of its release on Disney+, making it the streaming service's most viewed film premiere since 'Hocus Pocus 2' last year.
The Little Mermaid stars Halle Bailey as Ariel and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, in a musical re-imagining of the beloved 1989 animated classic.
Released theatrically in May 2022, the film earned a stellar $570 million at the global box office, demonstrating the strong appeal of Disney's strategy of remaking animated classics into live-action blockbusters fuelled by nostalgia.
Now that popularity has seamlessly carried over to Disney's streaming platform, as nostalgic parents and enchanted children clearly can't get enough of the film's CGI-animated underwater world. Disney has historically been reluctant to share specific streaming viewership data, but makes selective exceptions when the numbers are exceptionally high, likely as a strategy to attract potential advertisers.
Since introducing an ad-supported subscription tier on Disney+ last December, Disney seems increasingly willing to publicise successful premieres like 'The Little Mermaid' and last month's 'Star Wars' series 'Ahsoka', signalling a shift towards leveraging and promoting high viewership statistics.
The public viewership announcement also brings renewed focus onto ongoing tensions between studios and talent in Hollywood, as it comes on the heels of strikes by the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild over streaming compensation issues. While Disney celebrates the streaming triumph of 'The Little Mermaid', its strategic release of select viewership data highlights the shifting economics of the streaming era and ongoing debates over fair compensation.
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Published 12/09/2023 Yeo, Amanda
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