Fans of Halle Bailey have more fuel for the “Little Mermaid” hype machine as Disney offered a sneak peek of the upcoming live-action/CGI remake’s rendition of the song “Kiss the Girl” during the MTV Movie and TV Awards.
As in the famous 1989 animated film, Ariel, played by Bailey, has only a few days to win the heart of Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) while in the form of a voiceless human. If successful, she can stay human and live with the prince in his world. If not, her soul belongs to the Sea Witch, Ursula (Melissa McCarthy).
The minute-long clip, which can be seen in the tweet below, plays much like its animated counterpart, with the crab Sebastian (Daveed Diggs) serenading the couple and urging Eric to “kiss the girl” while Flounder (Jacob Tremblay) leads fish in putting on a magical show in the glowing waters. But their plan is foiled when Ursula capsizes the boat that the couple are riding in just before they kiss.
The sneak peek at “The Little Mermaid” comes as part of an MTV Movie Awards telecast that has been radically changed due to the writers strike in Hollywood. Earlier this week, Drew Barrymore announced that she would not take part as host of the show after the Writers Guild of America announced that it would picket the event in Santa Monica.
As a result, MTV pivoted the show to a pre-taped telecast leaning heavily on clips from the nominated movies and TV shows as well as pre-recorded sketches parodying recent and upcoming movies, such as one in which Drew Barrymore joins the upcoming summer comedy “Barbie.”
“The Little Mermaid,” meanwhile, is currently projected to be another hit in Disney’s series of critically derided but financially successful remakes of their animated classics. Current tracking has the film earning a 4-day Memorial Day weekend opening of around $110 million, just slightly below the $116 million 4-day opening of the 2019 “Aladdin” remake.
