‘The Little Mermaid’ is a box office hit with $117M

The Disney live-action adaptation starring Halle Bailey became the No.1 film in the world over the weekend.

“The Little Mermaid” is a box office hit! The highly anticipated live-action adaptation of Disney’s animated classic drove people to the movie theaters over the weekend, breaking Memorial Day weekend records and becoming the No. 1 film in the world.

The film starring Halle Bailey as Princess Ariel brought in $117.5 million during Memorial Day weekend, according to Box Office Mojo. This number, IGN reports, makes the film the fifth-highest opening of all time for a film premiering this holiday weekend. The film brought in a total of $185.8 million, after adding the $68.2 million brought in internationally .

The box office news comes along with a decidedly mixed to favorable reaction for the film as a whole from critics, with most praising Bailey’s turn as Ariel but critiquing certain aspects of the adaptation, earning the film a 68% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences, however, seemed enchanted by the film, which along with the impressive box office numbers, has earned a 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Before the film’s premiere, Bailey opened up to theGrio about the adaptation and how she put her spin on the beloved Disney character. “I just feel overjoyed,” she told us, “and I’m so grateful to even be a part of this readaptation of this iconic film that we’ve all known and loved for so long.”

“The Little Mermaid” is in theaters now.

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