All of the headlines suggest The Little Mermaid is a huge hit, but this isn’t remotely true.
The 2019 Lion King remake made $191 million domestic on opening weekend.
The TLM remake made $118 million domestic on opening weekend.
The Lion King finished at $1.6 billion with two thirds of that being international.
The Little Mermaid only took in $68 million international on opening weekend.
Napkin math says Mermaid will make $350ish million total domestic. If international percentage holds, that’s only another $200ish million.
Projected total? $550 million. On a $250 million budget, that’s a gigantic flop.
Yep. I read an article a while back about silicon valley guys who had started a company and been funded by VCs. They had opportunities to sell the companies at large multiples but were shut down by the VCs who owned majority stakes in their company. They eventually ran out of money, couldn't sell at all and were stuck with the debt they'd never pay back. Groups and people with that kind of money aren't content with just making all of it back.