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The Little Mermaid - Back in US Theaters for its 35th Anniversary December 13, 2024!

The Little Mermaid(1989)
Released
1989 · FILM

The Little Mermaid

A curious mermaid defies her father's ban on humans to rescue a stranded prince, sparking a forbidden romance that could unite two worlds or doom them both.

“Somewhere under the sea and beyond your imagination is an adventure in fantasy.”

Directed by
John Musker, Ron Clements
Written by
John Musker, Ron Clements
Rated
MPA · G
Runtime
83 min
AdventureAnimationFamily

Synopsis

This animated fantasy follows Ariel, a spirited mermaid princess who falls in love with Prince Eric, a human. Determined to be with him, she risks everything by making a dangerous bargain with the sea witch Ursula. The film features notable songs and characters, including the antagonistic Ursula.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Production Designer
Writers
Directors

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

A crew of 795+ credited

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Mark A HesterShot by Bert WilsonScored by Alan MenkenDesigned by Larry LekerSound by Louis L EdemannVFX by Mark Dindal

Box Office

1989 · Box office

💰 Box-office hit — grossed 5.3× its budget

Why 2.5×?

Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).

Worldwide gross

$211.3M

Budget$40.0M
Worldwide gross$211.3M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $84.4M — 40% of worldwide · International: $127.0M (60%)

Opening weekend: $6.0M — 7% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.

Opening week (7-day): $8.4M — 10% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 994 theaters

Re-release box office

19972,057 theaters
$39.4M($81.3M today)

Domestic gross earned in theatrical re-release, by year · adjusted for inflation

Full synopsis

Also known as

  • Arielle - Die Meerjungfraude
  • Arielle, die Meerjungfraude
  • La sirenitaes
  • La Petite Sirènefr
  • La sirenettait
  • (16mm release title)P'vok'rik jrahars
Release dates around the world3 countries · show
  • United StatesNov 13, 1989
  • ArgentinaDec 7, 1989
  • PeruDec 14, 1989

Production & Distribution

Production companies
Walt Disney PicturesSilver Screen Partners IVWalt Disney Animation StudiosWalt Disney Feature Animation
Distributors
Buena Vista Pictures DistributionWarner Bros. PicturesBuena Vista InternationalColumbia TriStar Warner Filmes de Portugal
Other companiesSaxon/Ross Film Design, Pacific Rim Productions, Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida, Segue Music, Evergreen Recording Studios

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