The Little Mermaid: Release Date, Cast, And More

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Hold your breath and get ready to dive in: the next title on the extremely long list of Disney live-action remakes will be taking us under the sea. Over three decades after her big screen debut, "The Little Mermaid" is making her grand return! At this point, the message has been received loud and clear — so long as these familiar faces keep turning a profit, Disney will never tire of redoing its classics. And maybe this news isn't nearly as bad as it sounds. After all, some of these remakes work out pretty well! Other times, we get 2019's "The Lion King" or, even worse, last year's "Pinnochio." But let's try not to worry about those.

All of that pessimism aside, the creative forces behind this remake of Ariel's adventure are extremely promising. If worse comes to worst, at least audiences will walk away with Halle Bailey's stunning rendition of "Part of Your World." Until then, let's hope for the best and get the hype train rolling. Below is everything you need to know about the upcoming remake of "The Little Mermaid."

"The Little Mermaid" is the latest in a series of live-action reboots from Disney. The original animated film kicked off the "Disney Renaissance," a period where the studio released hit after hit. Following in the footsteps of 1989's beloved "The Little Mermaid," the new movie centers on the mermaid Princess Ariel of Atlantica, who falls in love with humans and dreams of life on dry land. Fascinated by life above water, she becomes enamored with the handsome Prince Eric and admires him from afar. Though her father tries to poison her against humanity, resentful of those who pollute their ocean, Ariel is determined to meet her prince on land. So she strikes up an ill-advised deal with a villainous sea witch to become human. But the price of solidifying her love ends up too high for the princess to pay. Per Disney, here's the official synopsis:

"The Little Mermaid" tells the story of Ariel (Halle Bailey), the youngest daughter of King Triton (Javier Bardem), the ruler of the underwater kingdom Atlantica. Ariel, already fascinated by the world of humans, falls deeply in love with the handsome Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) after saving him during a shipwreck, and resolves to meet him in the world above water. Her quest brings her in conflict with her father and in the clutches of the scheming sea witch Ursula (Melissa McCarthy).

"The Little Mermaid" is mere months away from swimming into theaters, with a release date set for May 26, 2023. Originally, Disney expected to debut this film in 2022 but COVID-19 delays not only pushed filming back, but massively altered the studio's release schedule. Director Rob Marshall recently recounted this change in an interview with Collider, explaining that overall, making the film has taken "four-and-a-half years." Production initially began in the spring of 2020, suffered a delay due to the pandemic, and picked up nearly a year later in January 2021. Filming later wrapped in July of the same year and since then, post-production has presented an additional challenge. Marshall explained:

"COVID just kind of, you know, came right in the middle. We were a week away from filming, and we shut down, and then we had to come back up again. It's the most challenging film I've ever done because of the visuals and how to create that. I mean, every moment of the entire film is choreographed because it had to be, because there's no gravity. How do you do that? That was crazy. I mean, to figure out how we do that."

Halle Bailey stars as the titular mermaid, Ariel, a sea-bound princess who is fascinated by the human world. This is Bailey's first starring role in a feature film, having appeared in the Disney Channel Original, "Let it Shine" and most recently as a series regular on the Freeform series, "Grown-ish."

Jonah Hauer-King ("Little Women" miniseries) stars as Ariel's love interest, Prince Eric, and Javier Bardem will play her overprotective father, King Triton. Melissa McCarthy is taking on the role of Ursula, the sea witch who has more than earned her place as one of the most maniacal and beloved Disney villains. Daveed Diggs will voice Ariel's loyal crab Sebastian and Jacob Tremblay her anxious best friend, Flounder. Awkwafina voices Scuttle, a seagull who claims to be an expert on human objects. The film also stars Simone Ashley, Art Malik, Jude Akuwudike, Noma Dumezweni, Lorena Andrea, and Kajsa Mohammar.

Rob Marshall, director of "Chicago," "Into the Woods" and "Mary Poppins Returns" is continuing his musical stream by helming "The Little Mermaid." Marshall also produced the film with John DeLucas, Marc Platt, and Lin Manuel Miranda. The screenplay comes from Jane Goldman ("Rebecca," "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children") and David Magee ("Mary Poppins Returns").

Updating these Disney classics is always where things get tricky. How will the studio strike a balance between keeping what fans love and adding enough newness to justify the remake's existence? Our first hint at their approach is clear in the way this movie will handle the music.

Alan Menken, who scored and co-wrote songs for the original Disney film, is set to return as composer of the remake. The famed composer has teamed up with Disney favorite Lin Manuel Miranda to create new songs for the musical, with Miranda as the lyricist. On the subject of replacing the original film's lyricist, the late Howard Ashman, Miranda was quick to tell Billboard that "no one can write like [Ashman]." Audiences should thus expect new songs more in the vein of Miranda's usual work (think "Hamilton" aka expect to hear some rapping). But the film's lyricist also promised that many of the original songs remain intact. "Every song you love in The Little Mermaid is still in The Little Mermaid," Miranda told ScreenRant. "We just found some new moments to musicalize."

Watch the quick teaser for "The Little Mermaid" above and check out the official synopsis below:

"The Little Mermaid" tells the story of Ariel (Halle Bailey), the youngest daughter of King Triton (Javier Bardem), the ruler of the underwater kingdom Atlantica. Ariel, already fascinated by the world of humans, falls deeply in love with the handsome Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) after saving him during a shipwreck, and resolves to meet him in the world above water. Her quest brings her in conflict with her father and in the clutches of the scheming sea witch Ursula (Melissa McCarthy).