Is Live-Action ‘The Little Mermaid’ Available to Stream Now? When Will it Head to Disney+?
Get ready to return under the sea! Yet another of Disney’s celebrated and castigated live-action remakes is headed to cinemas, as “The Little Mermaid” will swim into theaters across the United States on Friday, May 26.
The youngest of King Triton’s daughters — and the most defiant — Ariel longs to find out more about the world beyond the sea, and while visiting the surface, falls for the dashing Prince Eric. With mermaids forbidden to interact with humans, Ariel makes a deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula, which gives her a chance to experience life on land, but ultimately places her life — and her father’s crown — in jeopardy.
Reviews for the film are still coming in, but so far critics have scored the film at 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. Reviewers had special praise for Halle Bailey in the lead role of Ariel, and are saying that this could well be the most enjoyable of Disney’s live-action remakes so far.
Watch a Trailer for ‘The Little Mermaid’:
If you’d rather watch at home so you don’t disturb the rest of the theater-going audience by singing along to every song, you’re probably hoping “The Little Mermaid” is available to stream at home too. While the 1989 animated classic is currently available to stream on Disney+, the live-action remake will be exclusively available in theaters for a stint.
But how long will that stint be? “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is one of Disney’s latest theatrical releases, and stayed in theaters for 89 days before heading to streaming. But that blockbuster superhero action film bears little resemblance to “The Little Mermaid,” and may not be the best film to use as an example.
Past live-action remakes from Disney are also not particularly instructive in knowing when “The Little Mermaid” will be available to stream. “Mulan,” one of the company’s most recent live-action adaptations was released direct to streaming on Disney+, but only if users were willing to pay an extra $30 to watch it. But that was in 2020 at the height of the COVID pandemic, and a day-and-date release for “The Little Mermaid” is off the table completely.
In the end, our best guess is that “The Little Mermaid” will stay in theaters for 120 days. That would make it available to stream around Friday, September 22. That’s a longer stay in theaters than “Ant-Man” got, but Disney is committed to giving its family-oriented movies longer runs in theaters, which is why The Streamable thinks “The Little Mermaid” won’t be available to stream until early fall.
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”