'The Little Mermaid' hit by review-bombing campaign
Despite a strong showing at the US box office, it seems trolls abroad are doing whatever it takes to stop people from seeing Disney's new 'The Little Mermaid' movie.
Disney's live-action version of 'The Little Mermaid' premiered at cinemas around the world last week.
According to Variety, the film is on track to bring in over $118-million (R2.3-billion) in America over the Memorial Day long weekend.
It is the fifth-highest opening for the four-day Memorial weekend in US history. Despite the strong showing, the movie does not appear to be doing very well overseas.
Casting a black actress in the lead role was met with some resistance from diehard fans, many of whom have seemingly taken to review websites to give the film bad reviews.
Singer Halle Bailey portrays the role of Ariel in the new adaptation. "She will never be Ariel. Period," one social media commented about the casting. Jonah Hauer-King (Prince Eric), Javier Bardem (King Triton), and Melissa McCarthy (Ursula) also star in the film.
While 'The Little Mermaid' received an audience rating of 96% on the review website, Rotten Tomatoes, a review-bombing campaign has led to it being heavily slammed on sites such as IMBd.
IMBd has since issued a warning to readers about "unusual voting activity" that is affecting reviews.
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Our rating mechanism has detected unusual voting activity on this title. To preserve the reliability of our rating system, an alternate weighting calculation has been applied. Although we accept and consider all votes received by users, not all votes have the same impact (or ‘weight’) on the final rating.
IMBd explained whenever it detects unusual voting activity on a title "an alternate weighting calculation may be applied in order to preserve the reliability of our system".
Other review sites have issued similar warnings.
'The Little Mermaid's' international box office brought in $68.3-million (R1.3-billion), with the movie coming in second to 'Fast X' in China.
It recorded an extremely low $2.5-million during its opening weekend in China, with the country's film ticketing agency, Maoyan, projecting a full-run of just $4-million.
In contrast, 'Fast X' starring Vin Diesel and Charlize Theron, earned $17.6-million at the Chinese box office during its second weekend. The film's full-run projection currently sits at $126-million.
Social media users are less than impressed with how far some will go to hate a film they have not seen.
"I don’t get how insecure incels go behind their screen to review bomb a CHILDREN’s movie simply because of the race of a mermaid (a fictional character btw) Little do they know that the whole entire story is written by a gay man," one Twitter user wrote.
Another user wrote: "Imagine being so desperate to write your bad review of 'The Little Mermaid'.'"
ALSO READ: Halle Bailey reveals she cried after watching herself as Ariel in 'The Little Mermaid'
I don’t get how insecure incels go behind their screen to review bomb a CHILDREN’s movie simply because of the race of a mermaid (a fictional character btw) Little do they know that the whole entire story is written by a gay man. https://t.co/RmtCJrCxk0
— josh ☆ (@josh_who_ahh) May 26, 2023
Meanwhile, Halle Bailey says she is excited for her fans to see the 2023 version of the 1989 animated classic.
"This was my first time ever doing a film like this, and words can’t describe how immensely grateful i am to have had this experience with such a beautiful group of people …please go watch and enjoy with your loved ones!" she wrote on Instagram.
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Watch the official trailer for 'The Little Mermaid' below.
Main image credit: Instagram/@disney
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