In September, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures previewed the trailer for the new live-action version of The Little Mermaid, coming to theaters in May of 2023. The movie is about a young mermaid named Ariel who makes a deal with a sea witch to exchange her stunning voice for human legs. She dreams of discovering the world outside the water and hopes to impress a young prince named Eric.
The Little Mermaid (2023) is live-action and within the musical fantasy genre. Disney adapted the movie from the original animated film The Little Mermaid, which came out on November 13th, 1989. The live-action The Little Mermaid has a confirmed release date of May 26th, 2023. The little mermaid has a fantastic cast with a new director, Rob Marshall. The movie stars 22-year-old Halle Bailey playing Ariel; alongside her will be Jonah Hauer-King, cast as Prince Eric, and Melissa McCarthy, portraying the evil sea witch, Ursula.
They chose Halle Bailey to play Ariel in the new The Little Mermaid for her outstanding singing and acting talents. When they announced Halle holding the lead role, there was a lot of negative feedback and judgment from people because she is African American and plays a mermaid who was white in the 1989 animated film. Despite the negative response from people finding out she was going to have the lead role, in an interview with E! News at the D23 Expo, Hailey expressed her excitement to be playing Ariel in the new 2023 live-action version of The Little Mermaid. During the interview, Hailey stated, “I’m so excited about this film. You know, being here today is so surreal.”
If you liked the animated version of The Little Mermaid, you should check out the 2023 live-action rendition coming to theaters near you on May 26th, 2023.
