Why Does She Have to Be Black? China and South Korea Not Feeling a Black Ariel in the Little Mermaid 

Disney’s summer block-buster opened to record-breaking box office sales in the U.S., but the film, which casts Halle Bailey in the lead role, has gone flat with audiences in China and South Korea.

According to Box Office Mojo, Disney’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid has only grossed a dismal $3.6 million in mainland China since it opened there on May 26, which is a record low for a Disney film in that nation.

In South Korea, “The Little Mermaid” has grossed $4.4 million since May 24 and attracted only 472,000 viewers in its first week in theatres there.

The film also encountered review-bombing which is the practice of groups of people flooding review sites with negative ratings.

In contrast the film broke box office records during Memorial Day weekend in the U.S. The Disney film, starring Atlanta-native Halle Bailey, became the fifth highest-grossing release in the history of Memorial Day weekend and summer releases, earning $117.5 million in the U.s on the opening weekend. 

China is the world’s second largest box office, but the film has done poorly as moviegoers take exception to Halle Bailey’s being cast in as the lead character, Ariel. As some feared, but not so unsurprisingly the issue is that Bailey is Black and viewers, no matter how colorful a Disney live action film is, viewers in the Asian nations are not entertaining the notion that the fictional character could be a Black girl.

But despite the overtly racial overtones in China and several other nation’s, Disney is standing by it’s decision and the movie, although the lack of international sales may thwart the film’s overall success. Industry insiders say the film will have to continue to win big in the U.S. in order for the studio to break even on the film with it’s breakout star.

“It’s a classic,” said Tony Chambers, Disney’s head of distribution. “You ask a lot of women or men of my age and it’s ‘Little Mermaid’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ that rank as their favorite animated movie. It’s a story that takes them back to their respective childhoods and this movie is the perfect opportunity for a lot of people to pass that love on to the next generation.”

Should we expect a Chinese Mogley in a remake of The Jungle Book or a South Korean Aladin in the movie of the same name to suit the sensibilities of segmented audiences around the world. Apparently it is a small world afterall, and Disney is going to have to do a lot of character colorizing for parents – not the kids who just want to enjoy the fantasy.

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