After months of anticipation, The Little Mermaid has taken the top spot at the box office with a whopping $118 million debut.
The live-action adaptation of the original 80s Disney flick stars 22-year-old Halle Bailey as Ariel, as well as a host of other famous faces like Melissa McCarthy, Simone Ashley, Javier Bardem, and Awkwafina.
Bailey has dominated headlines ever since it was first announced that she would take on the iconic role. At the time, the announcement was met with both immense praise and backlash, especially from those who couldn't come to grips with the fact that Ariel - a fictional mermaid - will now be Black.
Following the uproar, Bailey defended herself against her critics, revealing that she wasn't surprised by the comments being made about her casting during a Q&A video on her YouTube channel. "As a Black person, you just expect it and it's not really a shock anymore. I want the little girl in me and the little girls just like me who are watching to know that they're special and that they should be a princess in every single way," Bailey said.
Critics praised the movie ahead of its release, with writer Gillian Blum being so impressed with the flick that she called it the "best Disney live-action adaptation" and encouraged people to watch it when it finally hits cinemas.
"#TheLittleMermaid is the best Disney live-action adaptation to date. Halle Bailey IS Ariel. Major props to the sound effects team. Good changes, though one new song with too much autotune. Could watch this version's Under the Sea all day, it was the highlight of the whole thing," she wrote on Twitter.
Well, all the praise seems to have worked, as Variety reported that the film grossed $38 million on its opening day and, over the four-day holiday in the US, raked in a whopping $118 million in total. The movie ranks as the fifth highest Memorial Day opening in history, according to the outlet.
Fans were happy to note that Bailey was sporting her natural hair in red dreadlocks for the role of Ariel, something she recently explained was vital for her to do for a multitude of reasons. The actress spoke about the importance of her hair to Ebony Magazine - a publication centered around news, culture, and entertainment relating to the African-American community.
"It was super important for me to have my natural hair in this film. I was really grateful to [director] Rob Marshall, because he wanted to keep my locs. It's always important to have somebody to cosign. I've had my locs since I was five, so they're a huge part of who I am. We need to be able to see ourselves," she said, adding: "We need to be able to see our hair on big screens like this, so that we know that it's beautiful and more than acceptable."
The Little Mermaid is out in theaters now!