A new production grid making the rounds has Disney already putting a sequel to their highly-anticipated live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid on the table. The film, which is stars Halle Bailey as the iconic Disney princess, is expected next year and is expected to be a box office hit. However, there are some things to consider with this news.
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Though a grid is listing The Little Mermaid 2, that does not confirm that the project itself is actively in the works or has been greenlit by the studio, and likely won’t be until Disney sees how the first film does. For instance, last year, a Mulan 2 grid was also making the rounds as the film was debuting on Disney+ with Premier Access. That was almost a year ago and we have heard nothing on a sequel since. Last February, just before the pandemic, Disney tapped John Gatins (2017’s Power Rangers) and Straight Outta Compton scribe Andrea Berloff to pen a sequel to their billion-dollar 2019 hit Aladdin remake; however the project was not greenlit at the time as stars Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, and Will Smith were waiting on the script before offers went out. Again, there are no updates on the Aladdin sequel at this time.
Lastly, Disney has tons of projects that go on grids that don’t see the light of day. Those projects include live-action Rapunzel and Snow Queen films. As well as Disney+ projects such as Tom Sawyer. That doesn’t mean they won’t eventually happen, it simply means they are on the table at the studio. Like I said, The Little Mermaid is expected to be a box office smash like 2017’s Beauty and the Beast and 2019’s Aladdin and The Lion King before it, so don’t be shocked if a sequel comes to fruition in the future.
Directed by Rob Marshall (Into The Woods), The Little Mermaid will feature the original music by Alan Menken (Tangled and 1989’s The Little Mermaid) in addition to new songs co-written by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Encanto). The cast also includes Jonah Hauer-King (A Dog’s Way Home) as Prince Eric, Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) as Ursula, and Javier Bardem (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) as King Triton. Also set to star is Emily Coates, Jessica Alexander, Jude Akuwudike, Noma Dumezweni, Russell Balogh, and Adrian Christopher.

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