My Indy Adventure, Part V: Indiana Jones and the Search for Disney Movie Profits

 by Ray Keating

Analysis

DisneyBizJournal.com

June 27, 2023

 

Will Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny help Disney break out of some recent box office woes? Probably not.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, released on May 5, 2023, rocked it. It was an excellent movie that did well at the box office – pulling in $831.7 million on a production budget of $250 million and reportedly $100 million to promote. However, when you consider that Disney probably took in about $400 million of that total revenue (given the theater take) – and therefore, earned a box office profit of roughly $50 million – it’s another powerful reminder of how out of control costs are in Hollywood.

 

And then matters get ugly with The Little Mermaid (released on May 26), as DisneyBizJournal reported. As we pointed out, “That means that Disney’s losses on The Little Mermaid, at this point, are in the range of $170 million to nearly $300 million. That’s staggering, and it’s not the first Disney big-budget flop over the past year or so.”

 

Amazingly, things have managed to worsen with Elemental. The animated film opened on June 14, and its global box office, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com, currently stands at $124.3 million. That doesn’t seem too bad but for the fact that the production budget reportedly came in at a rather staggering $200 million. Add at least $100 million for marketing/promotion, and the losses mount. Plus, the box office, again, gets divvied up with theaters, so Disney’s take of $124.3 million turns out to be about $63 million. The losses on this film, once more, promise to be breathtaking.

 

So, we turn to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and wonder if Indy can help Disney break out of this, to be generous, box office rut. But consider the whopping $295 million reported production budget for this latest Indy installment, and then add on a substantial marketing/promotion budget. So, it wouldn’t be surprising if we’re talking a total budget of $550 billion. If we assume a 50-50 breakdown in box office revenues between domestic and international – such as what we saw with Top Gun: Maverick – then Dial of Destiny would have to make almost $1.2 billion at the box office to essentially break even. 

 

And as much as I want to love this film, the mixed reviews and projected box office numbers point to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny as no savior for Disney’s recent box office woes. Instead, it’s more likely to extend the company’s losing streak.

 

Previously…

 

“My Indy Adventure, Part I: Visiting the Indiana Jones Den of Destiny” by Ray Keating

 

“My Indy Adventure, Part II: Indiana Jones and the Hawaiian Shirt” by Ray Keating

 

“My Indy Adventure, Part III: Indiana Jones and the Search for the Comfy T” by Ray Keating

 

“My Indy Adventure, Part IV: New Reviews of Raiders, Temple of Doom, Last Crusade, and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” by Ray Keating

 

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Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com; and author of the Pastor Stephen Grant thrillers and mysteries, and the Alliance of Saint Michael novels; and assorted nonfiction books. Have Ray Keating speak your group, business, school, church, or organization. Email him at raykeating@keatingreports.com.

 

The views expressed here are his own – after all, no one else should be held responsible for this stuff, right? 

 

Consider books by Ray Keating…

 

• The Pastor Stephen Grant thrillers and mysteries. You can order the latest book in the series – Under the Golden Dome: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel. Get the signed books here, or paperbacks and Kindle editions right here.

 

• Order The Weekly Economist II: 52 More Quick Reads to Help You Think Like an Economist. Kindle editions and paperbacks via Amazon here and signed books here. And don’t forget the first book in this growing series, i.e., The Weekly Economist: 52 Quick Reads to Help You Think Like an Economist. Signed paperbacks at RayKeatingOnline.com or paperbacks, hardcovers and Kindle editions at Amazon.com.

 

• Cathedral: An Alliance of Saint Michael Novel. Signed paperbacks and/or paperbacks, hardcovers and the Kindle edition at Amazon. 

 

• The Lutheran Planner: The TO DO List Solution combines a simple, powerful system for getting things done with encouragement, inspiration and consolation from the Christian faith.

 

• Behind Enemy Lines: Conservative Communiques from Left-Wing New York  –  signed books  or at  Amazon.

 

•  Free Trade Rocks! 10 Points on International Trade Everyone Should Know is available at  Amazon  in paperback or for the Kindle edition, and signed books at  www.raykeatingonline.com. 

 

Also, check out Ray’s podcasts – the Daily Dose of Disney, Free Enterprise in Three Minutes, and the PRESS CLUB C Podcast.

“The Little Mermaid” by the Numbers: Staggering Losses

 by Ray Keating

Analysis

DisneyBizJournal.com

June 16, 2023

 

When a company can’t control costs, it’s easy to get into trouble. That bit of obvious “Business 101” wisdom seems to regularly go ignored in Hollywood. Let’s consider Disney’s 2023 version of The Little Mermaid as an example.

Three weeks since its release date (May 26, 2023), this film has raked in $425.1 million at the global box office, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. Nice, right? Well, actually, no.

 

Consider that the production budget on The Little Mermaid was a reported $250 million. Toss in marketing costs, which tend to range between 50 percent and 100 percent of the production costs, and suddenly we’re looking at a break-even scenario, or a loss of some $75 million for Disney.

 

However, it doesn’t end there. It needs to be pointed out that all of the box office gross doesn’t go to Disney. Various industry reports note that studios take in about 55 percent of the domestic box office, and anywhere from 20 percent to 40 percent of foreign ticket sales. 

 

Therefore, Disney’s cut of The Little Mermaid’s $239.4 million domestic gross would be about $132 million, and its take on the $185.7 million international box office would be, at best, $75 million. 

 

That would put Disney’s revenues from The Little Mermaid at a little over $200 million (approximately $207 million), so far. That means that Disney’s losses on The Little Mermaid, at this point, are in the range of $170 million to nearly $300 million. That’s staggering, and it’s not the first Disney big-budget flop over the past year or so.

 

Hollywood has a spending problem, and Disney seems to be one of the leaders in such profligacy.

 

__________

 

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com; and author of the Pastor Stephen Grant thrillers and mysteries, and the Alliance of Saint Michael novels; and assorted nonfiction books. Have Ray Keating speak your group, business, school, church, or organization. Email him at raykeating@keatingreports.com.

 

The views expressed here are his own – after all, no one else should be held responsible for this stuff, right? 

 

Consider books by Ray Keating…

 

• The Pastor Stephen Grant thrillers and mysteries. You can order the latest book in the series – Under the Golden Dome: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel. Get the signed books here, or paperbacks and Kindle editions right here.

 

• Order The Weekly Economist II: 52 More Quick Reads to Help You Think Like an Economist. Kindle editions and paperbacks via Amazon here and signed books here. And don’t forget the first book in this growing series, i.e., The Weekly Economist: 52 Quick Reads to Help You Think Like an Economist. Signed paperbacks at RayKeatingOnline.com or paperbacks, hardcovers and Kindle editions at Amazon.com.

 

• Cathedral: An Alliance of Saint Michael Novel. Signed paperbacks and/or paperbacks, hardcovers and the Kindle edition at Amazon. 

 

• The Lutheran Planner: The TO DO List Solution combines a simple, powerful system for getting things done with encouragement, inspiration and consolation from the Christian faith.

 

• Behind Enemy Lines: Conservative Communiques from Left-Wing New York  –  signed books  or at  Amazon.

 

•  Free Trade Rocks! 10 Points on International Trade Everyone Should Know is available at  Amazon  in paperback or for the Kindle edition, and signed books at  www.raykeatingonline.com. 

 

Also, check out Ray’s podcasts – the Daily Dose of Disney, Free Enterprise in Three Minutes, and the PRESS CLUB C Podcast.

Spend an Evening with Alan Menken and Be Part of Disney History

by Beth Keating
News

DisneyBizJournal.com

August 10, 2020

Until Friday, you have the opportunity to share a virtual evening with Disney Legend and composer Alan Menken for a good cause – a fundraiser for The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. The event, originally held on August 6, will be available to viewers until August 14.

“An Evening With Alan Menken” was seen by more than 20,000 fans, and featured music, storytelling and interviews. In the first portion of the evening, a VIP ticketed event, Menken was interviewed by former Disney music exec Chris Montan. It was followed by “An Intimate Performance With Alan Menken.” 

Special guest and fellow composer and lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda then jumps in to join the festivities. Throughout, Menken plays medleys of his songs, from Hercules, Little Shop of Horrors, Pocahontas, Enchanted, Newsies, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tangled, Galavant, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and more. Along the way, the composers also chat about the creative process of writing for animation.

Mr. Menken is a newly minted EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony winner), the 16th person to ever do so. (You get to take a peek at his trophies during the show, as he takes you on a quick tour down the hall to his studio room.) 

Disney fans, however, perhaps know Menken best as half of the writing duo, with Howard Ashman, who brought you the music to such Disney Renaissance Age animation favorites as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. His musical career spans nearly 40 years, though, including 8 Oscars (4 for Best Song and 4 for Best Score), a 2012 Tony award for his score for Newsies, and 11 Grammy Awards, with Song of the Year for Aladdin’s “A Whole New World”. 

In 2001, he was named a “Disney Legend,” and in 2008, he was inducted as a member into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. Also, 2010 brought him his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Menken is currently partnering with Disney alum Miranda in creating some of the new tunes to be added to the upcoming live-action The Little Mermaid.

The Walt Disney Family Museum was founded by Walt’s daughter, Diane Disney Miller, so that her father’s legacy would be preserved, but also to help support future animators. The proceeds from the evening fund the education programs at the museum, as well as a new initiative called the At-Promise Youth Animation Academy, an intensive, state-of-the-art animation-focused training program for high school students.

The Menken-evening benefit was underwritten by The Walt Disney Company, Michele Lund, and The Janet and Clint Reilly Family Foundation, as well as a number of others. An anonymous donor will also match donations dollar-for-dollar up to $25,000. The evening has raised $154,000 as of Monday afternoon, but it’s not too late to be part of the efforts if you’d like. The link to the donation button for the “Evening With Alan Menken” at The Walt Disney Family Museum is here.  

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Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.

Almost Everything You Should Know about “The Little Mermaid”

by Chris Lucas

Guest Column

DisneyBizJournal.com

August 9, 2020

(Editor’s Note: No one is quite sure when Disney’s live-action (and computer-generated?) remake of The Little Mermaid will start filming or be released. Thankfully, though, Chris Lucas has served up a wealth of fun information about the original, beloved animated movie.)

Here are some things you might not know about 1989’s The Little Mermaid, Disney’s 28th animated classic.

• Walt Disney himself loved the 1837 Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about the Little Mermaid so much that he began developing a short, animated version in the 1930s. He’d hoped to make a feature film of it after Snow White, but World War II and financial issues put a stop to that and it never was produced. 

• Walt’s gravesite in Glendale, California, where his ashes are interred, has a statue of the Little Mermaid in the garden. It’s a small replica of the famous one in Copenhagen, Denmark, that Walt so admired. 

Courtesy of Top Disney

• In 1986, Disney animators revived the idea of a Little Mermaid feature. Like Walt, they chose to soften the original Andersen story, which is very grim.

• The Little Mermaid would be the very last Disney animated classic to use hand drawn ink and paint cells, Xerox duplication, and non-digital cameras and film to shoot.

• Millions of animated bubbles were needed for the underwater scenes, so Disney hired a Chinese animation firm to do the work to save time.

• Lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken were brought on board the project to structure it more like a Broadway show, including a musical number early on where the protagonist clearly lays out for the audience what they most want. Almost every Disney animated musical feature has followed that pattern since.

• Actress Jodi Benson had worked with Howard Ashman on a 1986 Broadway show called Smile so he recommended her for the title role of Ariel. She’s played it ever since. In addition, Benson is the voice of Barbie in the Toy Story movies and Weebo the robot in 1997’s Flubber. She also appears in the 2007 live-action Disney film Enchanted. 

• Ariel’s “want” song, “Part of Your World” was close to a reprise of the song “Somewhere That’s Green” sung by Audrey in Ashman/Menken’s 1986 Off-Broadway hit Little Shop of Horrors. Disney producer Jeffrey Katzenberg wanted it cut, but luckily it wasn’t and is still one of the most popular Disney Princess songs.

• Originally, there was a very British butler/Major Domo crab assistant for King Triton, called Clarence (think Zasu from The Lion King, or Cogsworth from Beauty & The Beast). Ashman suggested that they change him to a Caribbean crustacean, giving his songs a Calypso beat. Actor Samuel E. Wright was hired to play Sebastian the Crab, and he gave him a Trinidadian accent. Sebastian was a breakout star and got his own best-selling CD of Calypso songs in 1990. 

• For the look of the villainous sea witch Ursula, Ashman approved an homage to performer Harris Milstead - better known by the stage name Divine - who’d recently passed away. The role was written for Bea Arthur, but she declined, so Pat Carroll was cast. Carroll used some vocal and character touches of Madame Medusa from 1977’s The Rescuers and Cruella DeVil from 101 Dalmatians for Ursula, as well as a little from Hollywood legend Talulah Bankhead and Howard Ashman himself. 

• Ursula was supposed to be revealed as King Triton’s sister - Ariel’s aunt - but that plot line was dropped from the finished film.

• Speaking of sisters, Ariel is one of seven daughters of Triton. They represent the seven seas. All of them have names that begin with the letter A, and each one has a tail that’s a different color of the rainbow. 

• The role of Prince Eric was voiced by 16-year-old Christopher D. Barnes. His assistant, Grimsby, was played by 74-year-old Ben Wright, who’d voiced the role of Roger in 101 Dalmatians 28 years before. Wright died just before The Little Mermaid was released. The film was dedicated to him.

• The world premiere of The Little Mermaid was held at Walt Disney World (where some of the animation was done) in November 1989, at the AMC theater in Downtown Disney. It was shown on all ten screens. 

• It cost $40 million to make The Little Mermaid. It took in more than that in under a month. In all, the film grossed over $200 million (which would be more than double that amount in 2020, adjusted for inflation) and was #9 at the box office in 1989, a very competitive year full of blockbuster films. The money it made helped to save Disney’s animation department from being shut for good.

• For the first time since 1977, a Disney animated classic was nominated for an Oscar. The Little Mermaid won two, both in the musical category. That started an amazing streak. From 1989 to 2001, Disney lost the Best Song category just four times. Twice it was because there were no nominations in that category for Disney, and once because they were up against "My Heart Will Go On" from the juggernaut that was 1997's Titanic.

• In 1990 The Little Mermaid was released on VHS. That marked the first time a Disney animated classic was ever made available on home video before at least one re-release to theaters. It sold 7 million copies in one month. 

• The continued success of The Little Mermaid has led to two direct-to-video sequels, an animated TV series, video games, a 1997 theatrical re-release, a 2007 Broadway adaptation, a live TV singalong version, an upcoming live-action remake, and several theme park attractions.

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Chris Lucas is the author of Top Disney: 100 Top Ten Lists of the Best of Disney, from the Man to the Mouse and Beyond.

On the PRESS CLUB C Podcast, enjoy Ray’s recent discussion with Chris Lucas about his career as an actor, author and Disney expert. Tune in right here!

Some Facts About “Sleeping Beauty” You Probably Didn’t Know

by Chris Lucas

Guest Column

DisneyBizJournal.com

July 20, 2020

Here are a few things you might not know about 1959’s Sleeping Beauty, Disney’s 16th animated classic.

- Production on the film started in 1950, but Walt’s ventures into television and theme park design slowed progress until 1956, when it began again in earnest. It was the longest working time ever devoted to one animated film. 

- Costs ballooned, in part due to the delays, and at close to $7 million, Sleeping Beauty wound up being the most expensive animated film ever made (a record that lasted for decades.) 

- Based upon the Charles Perrault version of Sleeping Beauty - though the story goes all the way back to the 1300s and has been adapted hundreds of times - the film’s exquisite and elaborate look was designed by artist Eyvind Earle, who also created the live action story book that opens the film. It now rests in the Disney Archives and is often sent out for display. 

- The music was based on Tchaikovsky’s 1890 Sleeping Beauty ballet and was recorded by the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. Tchaikovsky is the same composer responsible for Swan Lake and The Nutcracker. 

- George Bruns and Sammy Fain added modern songs and lyrics like “Once Upon A Dream” and “The Skumps.” 

- In the ballet the princess is called Aurora, in the fairy tale she’s called Briar Rose. The screenwriters split the difference by using both names. Many people still just call her “Sleeping Beauty.”

- Aurora doesn’t have a spoken line in the film until nineteen minutes in. Her last line comes twenty minutes later. She only has eighteen lines in the whole movie. In total, she is in less than 1/3rd of the story named after her. 

- The animators couldn’t decide whether Aurora’s dress should be pink or blue, so they just turned it into a joke in the film.

- Three famous TV “Aunts” were the live action models for the three fairies: Madge Blake (Aunt Harriet from Batman) Frances Bavier (Aunt Bea from The Andy Griffith Show) and Spring Byington (Aunt Daisy from Laramie). None of their voices were used in the final film.

- Ever the shrewd promoter, Walt named the castle at Disneyland after Sleeping Beauty, even though the movie wasn’t released until four years after the park opened.

- Sleeping Beauty was given a lukewarm reception by audiences and critics and made less than $6 million in its initial release. Not a flop, but not enough to return a profit, either. The biggest hit for Disney that year was actually a live action film, The Shaggy Dog, which cost just a million to make and took in almost ten times that amount.

- Until Mary Poppins came along, Walt considered Sleeping Beauty his studio’s masterpiece. Its lack of success was said to be one of the reasons he began to increasingly show a loss of interest in his studio’s animated films - which often took years to make with little return on profit - while spending more time on live action films and on developing attractions for Disneyland and the 1964 NYC World’s Fair. 

- Sleeping Beauty was re-released to theaters in 1970, 1979, and 1986. Each time it was a box office hit. It’s now regarded as one of the greatest masterpieces in animation.

- This was the final classic fairy tale Princess animated film made during Walt’s lifetime. The studio wouldn’t return to the genre until 1989’s The Little Mermaid.

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Chris Lucas is the author of Top Disney: 100 Top Ten Lists of the Best of Disney, from the Man to the Mouse and Beyond.

On the PRESS CLUB C Podcast, enjoy Ray’s recent discussion with Chris Lucas about his career as an actor, author and Disney expert. Tune in right here!

Are You Missing Having Fun with Disney Park Characters?

by Beth Keating

Review

DisneyBizJournal.com

July 5, 2020

With the Florida, Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai Parks reopening with limited character interactions under COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, you might be missing giving Mickey a hug or dancing with Goofy at Chef Mickey’s. (That’s a double whammy….No buffets and no character close-ups right now!) Enchanting interactions with the characters are what make waiting in meet-and-greet lines for an hour worth the wait (or make paying astronomical prices for mediocre buffet food worth the investment of time and money)!

If you need a quick shot of characters doing silly stuff with actual humans, check out this short (six minutes or so) compilation of character exchanges with Gijs Van Winkelhof. We’ve featured Gijs on this site before. He’s the extraordinary, self-taught piano player from the Netherlands who performs at the Disneyland Hotel in Disneyland Paris. (See our DisneyBizJournal review of his performances here.)

Gijs offers us a peek at his shows at Café Fantasia in Paris, with a half dozen Disney characters who randomly pop in to visit. The Fab Five unexpectedly show up at various times to try to steal the show, and a few even attempt to play the piano with Gijs. There’s a fair amount of dancing going on as well, with characters visiting with guests in the lobby of the Disneyland Hotel while Gijs keeps the music going. Among the songs featured are “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Mickey Mouse Club March,” “Part of Your World” (The Little Mermaid), and “A Whole New World” (Aladdin), while Tigger and Goofy, Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Pluto do what they do best. Goofy especially has a good time with “Jingle Bells.” 

Sadly, this is as close as we may get to a character interaction for the time being!  Disney has promised character appearances in the park, but from what we’ve seen in the already-opened parks, these character sightings are being done in creative ways to allow guests to see their favs, while still keeping the “stars” at a protective distance for both families’ and cast members’ safety.

Thanks to Gijs for sharing these guest videos of his piano performances with his Disney buddies. Hopefully, it will tide you over while you wait for your own chance to interact with the Disney crew.

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Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.

Animated Disney at the Oscars: The List of Winners and More

by Ray Keating

Analysis

DisneyBizJournal.com

February 7, 2020

The first animated movie to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards was Disney’s 1991 Beauty and the Beast.

Disney and then Disney/Pixar led a renaissance in film animation starting with The Little Mermaid in 1989, followed by Beauty and the Beast, and then a string of notable movies, from Aladdin (1992) to Toy Story 2 (1999).

This strong of movies clearly pushed the Academy Awards to introduce the Best Animated Feature in 2002 for the 2001 movie year.

Here are the Disney and Disney/Pixar winners for Best Animated Feature by movie release year:

2003: Finding Nemo

2004: The Incredibles

2007: Ratatouille

2008: WALL-E

2009: Up

2010: Toy Story 3

2012: Brave

2013: Frozen

2014: Big Hero 6

2015: Inside Out

2016: Zootopia

2017: Coco

So, out of the first 18 Best Animated Feature Academy Awards, Disney won 12.

And this year, Toy Story 4 has been nominated. It will square off with How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, I Lost My Body, Klaus, and Missing Link.

That’s all pretty darn impressive. But this shouldn’t surprise anyone. After all, at the Academy Awards on February 23, 1939, Walt Disney was presented an honorary Oscar for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which was the first feature-length animated film in color and with sound. Yeah, Disney has been at this animated things for a long time.

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of The Disney Planner 2020: The TO DO List Solution and the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.

Livestream Broadway at Disney World Tonight!

by Ray Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

January 25, 2020

So, what’s on your Saturday (January 25) night schedule? Well, at just before eight o’clock EST, you could tune in to the Disney Parks Blog to catch the livestream of a “Disney on Broadway” concert direct from Walt Disney World.

Tonight’s concert will feature Broadway performers Alton Fitzgerald White and Kissy Simmons from “The Lion King,” Heidi Blickenstaff from “The Little Mermaid.” and Gavin Lee from “Mary Poppins.”

The “Disney on Broadway” concert series is a big hit as part of the “2020 Epcot International Festival of the Arts.”

Tune in at 7:55 PM EST at the Disney Parks Blog.

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of The Disney Planner 2020: The TO DO List Solution and the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.

Did Audiences Flip Their Fins For the Live Action Version of The Little Mermaid?

by Beth Keating

Review (Warning: This review contains spoilers.)

DisneyBizJournal.com

November 6, 2019

Far be it from Disney to not recognize a good thing when it swims across their radar.  

Live action adaptations of Disney classics have been known to rake in the bucks at the box office, with Aladdin (2019) flying home with more than a billion dollars worldwide, while The Jungle Book (2016) slithered by with a mere $966 million.  The Fairy Godmother granted Lily James’ live action Cinderella (2015) a $542 million worldwide windfall, and this fall’s The Lion King (2019) brought in $1.6 billion to date. Disney is banking (no pun intended this time) on the fact that Disney-philes will eat up retellings of their favorite childhood stories. When Disney+ launches on November 12^th, a live action version of Lady and the Tramp will likely send sales of spaghetti soaring.  Love ‘em or hate ‘em, it appears the live action retellings are here to stay.

This year, in celebration of the 30^th anniversary of the release of The Little Mermaid, Disney is offering up two vastly different versions of their iconic 80s animated classic.  The first of those entries aired last night (November 5^th, at 8 pm EST on ABC), with The Little Mermaid Live!  East Coasters were able to watch as it unfolded, while West Coasters viewed the replay. The second offering, due to begin filming in the spring of 2020, is a Rob Marshall directed live action movie with additional new music by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who incidentally composed for Moana as well. Miranda, you may recall, was Jack in Mary Poppins Returns (2018), and is a Tony Award winner (2016) for his work on the Broadway hit Hamilton. 

NBC has previously peppered the live TV arena with productions including The Sound of Music Live (2013), Hairspray Live (2016), and Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert (2018), while Fox supplied such productions as Grease: Live (2016), The Passion (2016), and A Christmas Story Live (2017) to the genre. ABC came late to the party last night, as Little Mermaid Live! represents its first live action TV presentation of this type.

Last evening’s performance was quasi-live action. In order to not compete with their own Rob Marshall directed version, Disney had to come up with a unique way of presenting this early version of the tale.  Portions of the production were live, as big-name stars brought the iconic characters to life, while other segments of the show were presented through the eyes of the 1989 feature film.  This hybrid format hopefully satisfied Disney purists, as the core of the story remained true to the original film, at the same time that it added excitement to the production in the form of new and creative musical presentations pumped up with star power. Alan Menken’s wonderful scores were still there, with a few modern twists to give each artist’s personality a chance to shine.

Two-time Disney Princess Auli’i Cravalho (Moana) gave emotional voice to Ariel, with Shaggy accompanying the young mermaid as sidekick Sebastian the Crab. Graham Phillips joined the cast as Prince Eric, and Disney uber-fan John Stamos cooked up some chuckles as Chef Louis.  Queen Latifah gave a powerfully voiced performance, scaring the starfish out of us and bringing the power-hungry villainess and princess-want-to-be Ursula to life.  At the helm was director Hamish Hamilton, who is no stranger to live performances.  He has previously directed live productions, including Super Bowl half-time shows and Olympics ceremonies, as well as the Oscars. 

Little Mermaid Live! was a more-than-satisfactory endeavor. I was initially skeptical about how effectively the movie clips would blend with live action without creating a jarring switch from scene to scene. After the first few scenes though, I hardly gave it a thought. Magnificent costuming brought tremendous theatrical value to the show, while colorful puppeteers filled out the scenes and helped bring the world to life. Auli’i Cravalho performed some of my favorite Disney songs in Moana, and she equally soared in this version of Little Mermaid – quite literally.  Harnessed into her mermaid tail and rigging, Auli’i “swam” high above the crowd without missing a beat. While the show’s sound was uneven and quickly paced at times, and some of the dance sequences between Prince Eric and Ariel in the background of Ariel’s “Part of Your World” were a tad awkward, the choreography for the show was Broadway-caliber and the elaborate sets were gorgeous.  Interesting camera angles also helped tell the tale, particularly when we got the chance to “look down” into the sea at Ariel at the end of “Part of Your World.”  Shaggy’s version of “Under the Sea” imparted a fabulous party atmosphere to the evening, and Queen Latifah gave a commanding performance as the sea-witch. Even the audience was given props for a chance to participate in the event.

The big surprise of the evening was Graham Phillips.  He was great in the high-energy opening number, “Fathoms Below,” but he was particularly amazing in the ballad “Her Voice,” which was not in the 1989 Little Mermaid film, but was in the Broadway version. Also added to the show was an adapted version of “If Only,” a musical number with Ariel and Prince Eric that was originally a quartet in the Broadway version, but became a poignant love song here as a duet staged on a rotating split wall. What a great decision to give Prince Eric a more visible – and musical- role in this version of Little Mermaid! Without a doubt, it gave the Prince far more dimension than his movie counterpart ever had.

On the whole, The Little Mermaid Live! was so much more than I was expecting it to be, given that nearly half of the evening was movie based. The cast was certainly able to put their own stamp on the show, while still honoring the original film.  They brought just enough new flavor to the evening without sacrificing what fans love about the original film, providing an interesting new take on the classic.

Will audiences flip their fins over this initial Little Mermaid offering? If the demographics provided a strong showing last night, it will undoubtedly whet viewers’ appetites for next year’s Rob Marshall-directed live action version of the fairy tale. The impulsive little red-haired mermaid has long been one of the favorite princesses in our house – can it be thirty years already?  Sebastian asks, “With such wonderful things around you, what more is you looking for?” This show was a pretty good start…Hopefully, those “poor unfortunate souls” who missed it live had the foresight to DVR it for encore performances!

Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.