The Little Mermaid (1989 film)

Lore & Background

Walt Disney had planned to include the story in a proposed package film of Andersen's tales but scrapped the project. In 1985, while working on The Great Mouse Detective, Clements and Musker decided to adapt the fairy tale. They proposed it to studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, who initially declined due to similarities to a proposed sequel to Splash, but ultimately approved it. Ashman and Menken created a Broadway-style structure with musical numbers as the staff worked on Oliver & Company. Katzenberg warned the film would earn less because it appealed to female viewers but later became convinced it would be a blockbuster.

Reader's Guide

The Little Mermaid was released on November 17, 1989, to critical acclaim and commercial success, earning $84 million domestically initially and $235 million worldwide, making it the sixth-highest-grossing film of 1989. Along with The Great Mouse Detective, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Oliver & Company, it is credited with revitalizing Disney animated features after an uneven period and starting the Disney Renaissance. It won two Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song ("Under the Sea"). The film's success led to a media franchise including a prequel TV series, direct-to-video sequels, a stage musical, a live television presentation, and a 2023 live-action adaptation. In 2022, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

Development & Creative Vision

The journey from concept to screen for Wish stretched across nearly half a decade. Creative work kicked off in 2018, yet the project remained under wraps until January 2022, when industry reports first confirmed that Jennifer Lee was developing an original feature at Walt Disney Animation Studios. By September of that year, the title had been officially unveiled alongside the casting of Ariana DeBose and Alan Tudyk. Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn, who had previously collaborated with Lee on Frozen and its sequel, were locked in as co-directors, and Allison Moore was brought on to co-write the screenplay. The musical score was handled by Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice, while longtime Disney orchestrator Dave Metzger composed the instrumental score. The film was conceived as a centennial celebration, weaving together the recurring Disney motif of wishes being fulfilled and positioning itself as the origin tale for the beloved wishing star. Visually, the production blended computer-generated imagery with the aesthetic sensibility of hand-drawn animation, giving the story a distinctly painterly quality.

Narrative & Thematic Core

Set on a Mediterranean island kingdom called Rosas, the story centers on seventeen-year-old Asha, who discovers that her sorcerer-king Magnifico has been hoarding the sealed wishes of his citizens rather than truly granting them. After her attempt to secure her grandfather's wish is rebuffed, Asha makes a desperate plea to the night sky and is answered by a living, luminous star that descends to earth. This star grants the kingdom's animals the gift of speech and reveals a profound truth: every living thing is composed of stardust. As Asha and her new companion work to liberate the trapped wishes, Magnifico—paranoid and increasingly desperate—turns to forbidden dark magic to cling to power. A trusted friend, Simon, betrays Asha in exchange for a knightly title, only to be bewitched into servitude. The climax hinges not on individual heroism but on collective will: when the citizens of Rosas unite in a shared wish for a better future, their combined desire shatters Magnifico's control, frees the star, and ultimately traps the sorcerer within his own staff's mirror. Queen Amaya then steps forward as the sole ruler, helping her people pursue their dreams independently.

Box Office & Critical Reception

Wish opened its theatrical run with a premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on November 8, 2023, followed by a wide U.S. release on November 22. Critical response was notably divided, with reviewers offering mixed assessments of the film's storytelling and animation. At the global box office, the picture collected approximately $255 million against a reported production budget in the range of $175 to $200 million. Industry analysts subsequently classified it as a box-office bomb, estimating that even after factoring in revenue from streaming platforms and home-entertainment sales, the studio absorbed a loss of roughly $131 million. However, the film found a second life on Disney+, where it registered as the third most-watched premiere among titles produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, suggesting a strong audience appetite for the story once it became accessible at home. On the awards circuit, Wish earned a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film, acknowledging its place in the year's competitive animated slate despite its commercial underperformance.

Centennial Significance & Legacy

Conceived as a milestone project marking Disney's one-hundredth anniversary, Wish was deliberately designed to thread together the wish-fulfillment motif that runs through the studio's entire animated canon. The filmmakers positioned the picture as the origin story for the wishing star—a small but meaningful addition to Disney mythology that gives audiences a narrative explanation for a symbol they have recognized since childhood. The voice cast, led by Ariana DeBose as the spirited Asha and Chris Pine as the antagonistic Magnifico, was joined by Alan Tudyk, Angelique Cabral, Victor Garber, and Natasha Rothwell. Director Chris Buck described his protagonist as an energetic, community-minded young woman who takes pride in her home, while co-writer Allison Moore emphasized that Magnifico's villainy stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of what wishes represent to the people who make them. The decision to merge computer-generated tools with the visual language of traditional hand-drawn animation further underscored the film's intent to honor the studio's heritage while looking forward, making it a thematic and stylistic bookend for the centennial era.

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