Disney has released the official trailer for The Little Mermaid remake starring Halle Bailey, and fans are ecstatic. On Friday (September 9), the media company unveiled a teaser to the highly anticipated live-action adaption of the classic animated film at D23 2022, the ultimate Disney fan expo that celebrates the Walt Disney Company and all of its beloved stories and worlds. In the officially released scene, Halle, who stars as Ariel, in shown in a shipwreck in the ocean as she sings one of the film’s most iconic songs, “Part of Your World.”
Halle Bailey attends the 2022 Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards – Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
The Rob Marshall directed remake will also star Javier Bardem, who will play Ariel’s father, King Triton, and Melissa McCarthy, who will play the evil Ursula. The film’s first trailer comes on the heels of Halle sharing her experience dealing with racists fans who weren’t too keen on having a Black Ariel. “It was an inspiring and beautiful thing to hear [my grandparents’] words of encouragement, telling me, ‘You don’t understand what this is doing for us, for our community, for all the little Black and brown girls who are going to see themselves in you… What that would have done for me, how that would have changed my confidence, my belief in myself, everything. Things that seem so small to everyone else, it’s so big to us.”
The Grammy nominated songstress also says she wants the film to inspire young girls everywhere to tap in to their inner princess. “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. There’s no reason that they shouldn’t be. That reassurance was something that I needed.”
Check out the full trailer below. Catch The Little Mermaid in theaters May 26, 2023.