The Little Mermaid live-action remake is set to dive into theaters next month, and hopefully, audiences are ready to be submerged for a decent chunk of time. The film, starring Halle Bailey as Ariel, is reportedly boasting the longest runtime out of all the Disney remakes to date.
According to Collider, The Little Mermaid will clock in at 2 hours and 15 minutes (or 135 minutes total), which continues Disney’s trend of almost doubling the runtime of its animated classics that often ran at a tight 85-90 minutes:
The closest comparisons we can make at this stage are to fellow Disney Renaissance films Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, which saw their respective 84- and 90-minute runtimes expanded out to 2 hours and 9 minutes and 2 hours and 8 minutes respectively. The only other Disney live-action remake that currently sits above the 2-hour mark is Cruella, though that is less of an indication of what fans can expect, as that film was an entirely new backstory.
The Little Mermaid will also make some modern adjustments to some of the classic song lyrics, and Bailey recently told Modern Luxury that the live-action remake will update the story so Ariel isn’t leaving the ocean world just for some boy.
“It’s way bigger than that,” Bailey said. “It’s about herself, her purpose, her freedom, her life, and what she wants.”
The Little Mermaid swims into theaters on May 26.
(Via Collider)