In a rare situation for a Disney tentpole, particularly a live-action title based on a treasured animated musical, The Little Mermaid looks to bank more at the domestic box office ultimately than overseas, with $300M-$350M U.S./Canada to $260M abroad.
At that level, per finance sources, off a reported $250M production cost and $140M global marketing spend, The Little Mermaid could very well break even. However, anything in the low $400M global threshold and this fish is apt to be hooked to a loss of around $20M.
“Not a huge disappointment, but a disappointment nonetheless,” one film finance insider told Deadline, noting Disney's high batting average for blockbusters.
The Little Mermaid's ebb tide at the box office is extreme when juxtaposed against the high water mark seen from the last Memorial Day Disney live action feature adaptation of a toon, Aladdin, back in 2019. That Will Smith pic cleared $1.05 billion worldwide, with 66% of its gross generated abroad including $53.4M from China. >>>'Mermaid's' Financial Challenge |
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World Wide Web - The $100M-budgeted sequel to the Oscar-winning 2018 animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse completed post-production just 10 days ago after a five-year trek to the screen. Starting Wednesday abroad, and Thursday in the U.S./Canada, the continuing adventures of Miles Morales will see the light of day in what is expected to be a $150M global opening. >>>China The Overseas Swing
Seeds Planted - A limited TV series adaptation of John le Carré’s The Constant Gardener is being developed by The Ink Factory, coming almost two decades after the Oscar-winning movie. His Dark Materials and Noughts + Crosses scribe Lydia Adetunji is penning the TV adaptation, with no network or cast attached as of yet. >>>Post-Pandemic Context
Home Run King - HBO and Words + Pictures have launched production on a documentary about Barry Bonds, one of baseball’s greatest players – and one of the most polarizing figures in all professional sports. The film will chronicle Bonds’ emergence as one of the game’s most talented all-around players with the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants and then his years as a superstar with the Giants when he rewrote the record book in his late 30s amid MLB’s steroids scandal. >>> Never Elected To Hall of Fame Happy Endings - Apple’s hit comedy series Ted Lasso wrapped up its third season on Wednesday -- and quite possibly the series as we’ve come to know it. But no matter what happens in the future, Hannah Waddingham tells Deadline she is proud of all she accomplished as Rebecca Welton and how things ended for her character. >>>Read The Q&A From Prick To Hero - Speaking to Deadline, Ted Lasso’s Phil Dunster shared his reaction to watching the completed finale for the first time and his favorite line as well as his character Jamie Tartt’s evolution from a prick to hero, his bromance with Roy Kent and much more. >>>"A Hell Of A Journey"
In Brief - Doug Herbert and George Poteet, two land speed racers competing to see who can next break the existing record, have been set as the subjects of Ample Entertainment and Studio71’s docuseries The Drive for Five… Ming-Na Wen has teamed with Compelling Pictures on a doc series about Asian-American food culture, The Sweet and the Sour. |
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If Dave has met viewers with just one idea over the course of its three seasons, it’s to expect the unexpected — and with Season 3 finale “Looking for Love,” co-creator and star Dave Burd (aka rapper Lil Dicky) has delivered again. Deadline caught up with Burd to break down the events of the finale and what they set up for future chapters of the series. He speaks below about breaking Season 3’s story, how he managed to get Brad Pitt on board as a “shepherd” of sorts for his stalker episode, the “scariest” run-in he’s personally had with fans, his thoughts on Succession‘s recent finale, and finding himself ascending to “a different level” of late with his music. >>> Read The Interview |
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Yes, Kim Cattrall will appear in Season 2 of And Just Like That... Cattrall will reprise her role as Samantha Jones in the second season of the Sex and the City sequel series, Deadline has learned. There are no details about the storyline, but we’ve learned she will make a brief cameo appearance in the Season 2 finale. Cattrall had no interaction with the And Just Like That… cast or showrunner Michael Patrick King.
Exclusive
Jacqueline Bisset and Dominic Monaghan are set to star alongside Dermot Mulroney in Last Dollar, the 1880s-set Western inspired by European cinema that marks the feature directorial debut of William Shockley. |
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BY THE NUMBERS
11.9 million viewers - The number of people who tuned in to the Celtics-Heat Game 7 on TNT on Monday, making it the most-watched NBA Eastern Conference Finals game ever |
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HIRINGS, PROMOTIONS & EXITS
Exclusive
John Rouse, who has been with The Walt Disney Company for the past 33 years, most recently as EVP of Affiliate Relations for the ABC Television Network, is retiring at the end of July.
Warner Bros Discovery exec David Leavy has been named Chief Operating Officer of CNN Worldwide. Dating back to his tenure at Discovery, which merged with WarnerMedia in 2022, Leavy has been with the company for 23 years.
Vans Stevenson, the longtime state government affairs executive for the Motion Picture Association, is leaving the organization after 34 years. Stevenson has served as SVP of state government affairs for 25 years and moved to the role of senior adviser of global government affairs when Kathy Bañuelos succeeded him last year.
BET Media Group has brought on Jerry Leo as Executive Vice President of Programming Strategy. Leo will drive the overall program scheduling strategy and operations for the group’s portfolio of linear networks. Reporting to BET President and CEO, Scott Mills, Leo will work closely with the content and marketing leadership teams to develop and optimize roll-out plans and launch schedules for all series, specials and tentpoles.
Former Focus Features exec Paul Getto has been appointed as EVP of Strategy and Business Development at Universal Studio Group. He will manage a team that oversees strategic initiatives, business development opportunities and investment planning across the studio’s divisions including Universal Television, UCP, Universal Television Alternative Studio as well as, in partnership with the UK team, Universal International Studios. |
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More News
👨💼 Peter Rice, a former top-level exec at Disney and Fox, has secured a film and TV production deal at A24. The agreement is open-ended and non-exclusive. One of Rice's career cornerstones was running Fox Searchlight when it released breakout hits like Slumdog Millionaire and Sideways. A24 has had a strong run of films in recent years, including Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All At Once and has ambitions to do more episodic fare like its well-reviewed Netflix series Beef.
🏷️ All3Media, the British super-producer behind hits including The Traitors and 1917, is up for sale. Owners Warner Bros. Discovery and Liberty Global have engaged bankers at JP Morgan to conduct an auction for the production asset, according to The Daily Telegraph.
⚖ The jury in Danny Masterson’s rape retrial on Wednesday found him guilty on the majority of the three counts against him. The 47-year old actor is facing 30 years behind bars on the two counts he was found guilty of. Yet, similar to the first trial that ended late last year, the jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on sexual assault charges against Masterson.
🎙️ The month of May was the first full month without cable news’ top primetime host, Tucker Carlson, and it showed. Fox News continued to top primetime and total day viewers, but the margins have narrowed considerably with MSNBC, which was the only major cable news network to see viewership gains. |
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Obituaries
🕯 Sergio Calderón, the actor recognizable from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Men In Black and The Ruins among many other projects over course of his six-decade career in films and television, died Wednesday morning surrounded by family. He was 77. 🕯 Hollywood & Media Deaths in 2023: A Photo Gallery |
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On the Radar
Thur - Netflix shareholder meeting; Trump Town Hall on Fox; NBA Finals begin
Sat - Stanley Cup Final begins
Sun - The Idol premieres
Mon - SAG strike voting ends
Wed - SAG negotiations begin, The Way Of Water debuts on Dis+ & Max; Tribeca Festival begins |
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Of Paramount Importance - Alfre Woodard on why she picketed in support of writers yesterday outside Paramount: "I can't do my job, ya'll can't see nothing, nothing would be nothing without them." |
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