Mena Massoud, star of the live-action version of Disney’s Aladdin, has come under fire for comments he made about the upcoming remake of The Little Mermaid.
On Saturday, Massoud chimed into a tweet that wondered if the Halle Bailey-led film would cross the $1 billion box-office mark after projections claimed it would have a slightly higher opening than Aladdin had during its first weekend in theaters. According to Massoud, the film won’t touch that milestone but would definitely get a sequel.
When compared to his film, Massoud said they were only able to hit the billion mark thanks to fans who kept going to see the movie in theaters, something he doesn’t think will happen with The Little Mermaid.
“Our film was unique in that audiences went to watch it multiple times,” Massoud said. “It’s only the way we reached the billion dollar mark with our opening. My guess is TLM doesn’t cross the billion mark but will undoubtedly get a sequel.”
Early projections state The Little Mermaid will open with $115 million, which is $3 million more than what Aladdin did with $112 million during its first weekend. Internationally, Aladdin made $1 billion, resulting in a strong run and placing it third on the highest-grossing live-action Disney remake list behind Beauty and the Beast in 2017 and The Lion King in 2019.
Fans caught wind of Massoud’s comments and took them as insults. Many wasted no time hopping on social media and dragging the actor for throwing shade at the film that’s been criticized for months. According to fans, Massoud’s comments were the source of hate and jealousy, especially when he hasn’t been casted in any major roles since Aladdin was released.
“Look, I liked him in Aladdin and felt bad that he couldn’t really springboard it to anything notable. But this is such an embarrassing and uncalled for tweet. What would compel one to say this? Incredible ratio though,” one person tweeted.
Another said: “Your film reached a billion but you’re still jobless… seems like you got other things to worry about.”
The heat might’ve been too much for Mena Massoud, though, as he deleted the tweet and deactivated his Twitter page shortly after the outrage.
The Little Mermaid is scheduled to hit theaters on May 26 and stars Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, Jonah Hauer-King, Daveed Diggs and more. The film will also have some tough competition as it opens a week before the highly-anticipated, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the sequel to the 2018 smash hit.
Check out some more fan reactions to Mena Massoud’s comments below.
