Earlier this week, there were various outlets reporting that Disney had every intention of campaigning the live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid across several categories for the upcoming award season. Despite submissions to most of the major categories such as Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Director, there was one category in particular that got fans buzzing: Best Original Song.
With the film being a remake, it normally wouldn’t have a shot at the category because most of the songs aren’t original. Instead, they’re reimagined versions of the originals. Thankfully, four were. And one of those songs, Ariel’s soulful ode to a new life on land titled “For the First Time,” seemed to be a surefire submission. In fact, it was even showcased on Disney’s For Your Consideration page.
For those who don’t know, a film’s FYC page details all of the elements from a film a studio plans to campaign heavily.
READ: ‘The Little Mermaid 2’ and How it Could Happen?
However, upon revisiting the page earlier this week, the section where Disney featured its plan to submit the song is no longer there. Don’t believe us? You can check out the snapshot we took below, or visit the page yourself here.
That begs the question(s): Is Disney still planning to campaign for the song? Or, for some reason, did it decide to no longer submit the song?
Now, it’s far too early in the award season for any submission to be rejected, so that’s definitely not the case here. However, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has several specific guidelines for its submissions, so it is possible that perhaps the song may not have qualified even when Disney thought it did.
Realistically, the reason for the section’s omission from the site could be as simple as an error on Disney’s end. While we’ve reached out to Disney for comment, we’ve yet to hear back.
With the Oscars and all the other major awards shows still a few months away, we’ll have to wait to see what ultimately happens.
