’The Little Mermaid’ Cast and Crew Set to Return to London and Begin Production Later This Month

Walt Disney Studios live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid will be among several high profile films to resume production at Pinewood Studios in London, following exemption of quarantine rules, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said Sunday.

The film was just days away from filming back in March until the COVID-19 outbreak caused the studio to close production, sending the cast and crew back home. Now, crew members for the film will be allowed to return as the British government is granting a number of film and TV productions exemption from following quarantine rules.

That said, the exemption will come with strict conditions to keep the cast and crew safe. Cast and crew will be restricted to a “bubble” environment, where they will live in close proximity to the production area and will not be able to leave to the surrounding community.

Dowden stated that the exemption is being granted to help revive the British film industry in the safest way possible:

“The world’s biggest blockbusters and high-end TV shows are made in Britain, our creativity, expertise and highly successful tax reliefs for our screen industries means that we are an in-demand location that in turn delivers a great return for our economy. We want the industry to bounce back and exempting small numbers of essential cast and crew from quarantine is part of our continued commitment to getting cameras rolling safely again.”

Read: Disney Moves ‘Mulan’ To August 21

Other productions resuming filming in the U.K. Include, Universal’s Jurassic World: Dominion, Warner Bros.’ The Batman, Fantastic Beasts 3, Sony’s live-action musical adaptation of Cinderella and Mission Impossible 7. Meanwhile in New Zealand, 20th Century Studios resumed production on Avatar 2 and the Czech Republic has given the okay for Marvel Studios to finish filming on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Directed by Rob Marshall (Mary Poppins Returns, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), The Little Mermaid is set to star musical artist Halle Bailey as Ariel, Jonah-Haur King as the aforementioned Prince Eric, Melissa McCarthy as the villainous Sea Witch Ursula, Javier Bardem as King Triton, Jacob Tremblay as Flounder, Daveed Diggs as Sebastian, and Awkwafina as Scuttle.

Alan Menken recently revealed that he and Lin-Manuel Miranda (Moana) have finished recording all the music for the film, which will feature four brand-new songs. Menken has teased that those songs will consist of new ones for both King Triton (Bardem) and Scuttle (Awkwafina), we also hear Prince Eric will get his own song as well, and that another will feature a duo between both Ariel and Eric.