The Little Mermaid breaks streaming record

After a solid run in cinemas, the live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid has broken streaming records on Disney+, making it the studio’s biggest release of 2023 on the service.

Disney’s remake of The Little Mermaid is one of the most successful films of the year. The musical movie – which stars Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina, and Javier Bardem – cost a whopping $250 million to make.

But it easily made its money back, grossing $300 million domestically, and $270 million globally, for a worldwide total of $570 million.

Now its doing similarly big business on Disney’s streaming service, making it the most viewed movie of this year.

The Little Mermaid breaks Disney streaming record

The Little Mermaid achieved 16 million views in its first five days of streaming on Disney+. That makes it the most viewed premiere on the streamer since Hocus Pocus 2 last September.

A view is defined as total stream time divided by runtime, and how Disney measures success on the streaming service.

To compare that to Star Wars numbers, the studio recently revealed that the series premiere of Ahsoka received 14 million views in its first week on Disney+.

More live-action Disney adaptations coming soon

Disney has been busy making live-action adaptations of their classic animated movies, with The Little Mermaid the latest in a long line of expensive remakes.

From Cinderella and Mulan, to Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast, these big-budget, effects-driven updates of classic stories have been money-spinners for the studio. Even if they haven’t always garnered critical acclaim.

And if there’s money on the table, that means there’s many more in the pipeline. So here’s just a few that are either in production, or planned for the future.

• Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
• Lilo & Stitch
• Mufasa: The Lion King
• Moana
• Hercules
• Bambi
• Robin Hood
• The Aristocats
• The Sword in the Stone
• Hunchback

Expect some of these movies to debut in cinemas. But increasingly the live-action remakes are premiering on the streaming service, with the likes of Lady and the Tramp, and Peter Pan & Wendy recently bypassing theaters to launch on Disney+. Either way, we’ll let you know when we have more information on all these titles.

The Little Mermaid is now streaming on Disney+, while you can read more about the movie below:

Review | Cast and characters | Soundtrack | Ending explained | Box Office | Will there be a live-action The Little Mermaid 2? | How is it different from the animated original?