In less than a week of its announcement the trailer for the upcoming Live-Action Remake of the 1989 animated classic The Little Mermaid has gained over 2 Million dislikes on YouTube; Making it the most disliked film trailer for any North American movie.
The trailer currently has almost 16 million views and 755,000 likes, but also has an astronomical 2 Million dislikes; Higher than any film trailer for any major Hollywood release. 
For the longest time many people thought no film could surpass the 2016 Ghostbusters trailer (which currently sits at 1.6 Million dislikes), but here we are.
The only other film trailers that score a higher dislike ratio than the Little Mermaid are Netflix’s controversial 2020 French film Cuties with 2.4 Million dislikes (which Little Mermaid might pass); And the 2020 Disney+Holostar film Sadak 2 with 14 Million dislikes (as a result of the controversial death surrounding Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput).
The controversy surrounding the Live-Action Remake of The Little Mermaid come weeks after the release of the Live-Action Remake of Pinocchio. The film was heavily criticized by both critics and audiences, and many longtime Disney fans are starting to feel L.A.R. (Live-Action Remake) fatigue. At the moment both a L.A.R. of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and a Prequel to the 2019 Lion King Remake are in development but very few people seem to be excited.Â
Many outlets will try to dismiss the criticisms as simply “racism”, which might account for a small amount of the backlash, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the majority of the criticism is from people who are tired of Disney making L.A.R.s of almost every one of their animated films. With how few ‘classic’ films they have left pretty soon they’ll be remaking movies like Bolt, Brother Bear and Meet the Robinsons.
The saddest part about the controversy is that young talent like Halle Bailey (Princess Ariel) and Jonah Hauer-King (Prince Eric) are caught in the middle of it all. From what we’ve seen of Halle she can really sing well; But the backlash to the film may damage her career going forward. Even veteran actors like Javier Bardem are being affected by this.
Hopefully after this controversy Disney will start to slow down the quantity of L.A.R. projects and focus on more original ideas.Â
What do you think of this situation?
Pirates & Princesses (PNP) is an independent, opinionated fan-powered news blog that covers Disney and Universal Theme Parks, Themed Entertainment and related Pop Culture from a consumer's point of view. Opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of PNP, its editors, affiliates, sponsors or advertisers. PNP is an unofficial news source and has no connection to The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal or any other company that we may cover.