The remake of the 1989 animated tale of an underwater
princess who gives up her voice in pursuit of true love on land, starring pop
singer Halle Bailey and Melissa McCarthy, raked in $117.5 million in US and
Canadian box offices and another $68 million internationally, Exhibitor
Relations said.
Despite the number one spot, analyst David A. Gross pointed
out that the aquatic adventure's debut does not represent the biggest opening
weekend for a live-action Disney adaptation.
He recalled that 2019's The Lion King and 2017's Beauty and
the Beast earned $191.8 million and $174.8 million respectively, over their
opening weekends.
"During the last dozen years, Disney has built
live-action remakes into a powerhouse phenomenon," Gross wrote in the
FranchiseRe newsletter.
Still, Ariel and friends were able to bump last week's
number one feature Fast X down to a distant number two, with Universal's action
film pulling in only $29.5 million in the Friday to Monday period.
That's less than half of what the movie, part of the Fast
& Furious franchise starring Vin Diesel, made during its opening weekend
last week.
Disney's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Universal's The
Super Mario Bros Movie were also knocked down one spot each from last weekend
to take third and fourth places, making $25.3 million and $7.7 million.
In fifth place was Sony's new action comedy The Machine,
which earned $5.8 million and is based on US comedian Bert Kreischer's stand-up
routine.
Rounding out the top 10 were:
- About My Father ($5.3 million)
- Kandahar ($3 million)
- You Hurt My Feelings ($1.8 million)
- Evil Dead Rise ($1.2 million)
- Book Club: The Next Chapter ($1.2 million)