Usually when a big Disney movie comes out, you can expect to see the characters from the film appearing in Disney World and Disneyland. There are times when those films are such poorly received losers that the characters are very quickly shuffled off the lists. For those times, you might catch a glimpse of a rarely-worn costume appearing at a special event. Most guests likely will say “who is that?”
But then there are also times when Disney is stuck with a character tie-in where there simply is no good solution. Such is the case with The Little Mermaid live action remake from 2023. The film severely underperformed box office expectations. Instead of breaking a billion, the film may have actually lost money given a gargantuan reported budget and marketing spend. Unfortunately, the film was also tied to racial tensions. Ahead of the film, cast placed a heavy emphasis on the race-swapped Ariel character; after the film performed poorly, blame was sometimes placed upon a society that allegedly did not want to view a non-white mermaid. At this point, we believe that you can determine for yourself what you think might have contributed to the film’s demise.
Halle Bailey as Ariel in Disney’s live-action THE LITTLE MERMAID. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2023 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Separate from such issues, however, is the huge problem that was then faced by the Disney Parks and Experiences Division of the company. Meet and greets with the new, live action Little Mermaid were scheduled, casting was done, and publicity was generated. Though the movie underperformed, there was no way the parks could remove the character opportunity in the way they typically would with a box office flop. So instead, a perhaps even more egregious error was allowed to continue on unabated. While long lines were always expected for the traditional, cartoon Ariel at Magic Kingdom, the Hollywood Studios theme park meet and greet with the new Ariel was often completely empty of anyone attempting to see her. Even Disney must have recognized the problem and had her appear in a less-trafficked area of the park. All of that was lackluster and created terrible optics.
Ariel from Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid is now making limited-time appearances at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The meet-and-greet is located at Walt Disney Presents.
The character is also appearing at Disneyland Resort and Disneyland Paris. #TheLittleMermaid pic.twitter.com/VVPuC4XOZZ
— Ashley Carter (@AshleyLCarter1) May 26, 2023
Now, Disney is faced with an even more difficult task. What can they do about Snow White?
Rachel Zegler’s upcoming live action remake of the beloved, original Disney animated classic is fraught with controversy. The film’s trailer has amassed a historic million dislikes since it was shown to the world at D23. Box office projections for the film, likely have the twice-reshot amalgamation of boardroom and focus group catastrophes at a flop for the ages. It’s now reasonable to surmise this could compete with The Marvels and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny for the biggest cinematic loser of all times. So what is Disney to do with a theme park tie-in?
Rachel Zegler as Snow White in Snow White (2025), Walt Disney Studios
Should Disney World and Disneyland elect to have the Rachel Zegler version of the character appear, they’re almost certainly beholden to have Hispanic and/or Latina actresses play the role. Not doing so could capture the attention of news articles that could put the company in a bad light. Yet having Hispanic and/or Latina actresses standing in rooms with nobody wanting to meet the new Snow White is another horrible look for the company. And it certainly wouldn’t be the fault of the actress. Yet if Disney decides not to begin casting and training said actresses… what if the movie actually succeeds? Then they’re empty of any cross-promotion at their most powerful revenue drivers.
Disney could also decide to put forth traditional Snow White appearances with the original cartoon look. The problem there is that Snow White might be accused of being a whitewashed effort at the parks. There’s almost no conceivable win here.
And that is why Disney World and Disneyland may ultimately just take the proverbially football knee.
Rachel Zegler as Maria in 20th Century Studios’ WEST SIDE STORY. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2021 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Why be in the middle of all the controversy when you can just not do anything extra for Snow White. If the press calls you out on it, Disney can reply that they have many appearances of Snow White throughout the park and there are merchandise options throughout their retail spaces. Do a “no comment”. And surely… surely… if they do nothing at all to promote the film in the parks, this will be the ultimate signal that the live action mistakes are finally coming to an end. While there may have been a few diamonds in the rough, there is almost no live action attempt which has bested the original animated effort upon which they are based.
Of course, if Disney chooses to have a Rachel Zegler doppelganger in the parks, with nobody wanting to hang out, you can bet we’ll have reporters hanging out ready with stories to write.
