Mena Massoud, who played the role of Aladdin in Disney's live action movie 'Aladdin', deleted his social media account.
According to the British media outlet Daily Mail on the 13th (local time), Mena Massoud aroused the anger of fans after mentioning the upcoming live-action version of Disney's 'The Little Mermaid'. Accordingly, he drew attention by deleting his SNS account.
It was previously predicted that the performance of ‘The Little Mermaid’ would be similar to that of ‘Aladdin’. 'Aladdin', released in 2020, earned $1 billion (about KRW 1.344 trillion) worldwide.
One SNS user wrote, "'Aladdin' has surpassed $1 billion, but for 'The Little Mermaid' to surpass $1 billion, the key is how well it holds up against its competitors."
Mena Massoud, who saw this, said, "Our film was unique in that audiences rewatched it multiple times. Without rewatches, it would not have been able to surpass $1 billion in opening sales. In my opinion, 'The Little Mermaid' made $1 billion. "It won't be worth more than a dollar. But there will definitely be a sequel," he said.
Controversy arose when Mena Massoud mentioned ‘The Little Mermaid’. In the end, Mena Massoud deleted his social media account without apology. He took on the role of Aladdin in ‘Aladdin’, overcoming a competition rate of 2,000 to 1. However, he confessed that he had not had a single audition since the release of 'Aladdin'.
Mena Massoud's mention of 'The Little Mermaid' appears to have expressed dissatisfaction as the possibility of a sequel to 'Aladdin' not being produced is low. In fact, 'Aladdin' was scheduled to produce a sequel, but there was no further news.
'The Little Mermaid' mentioned by Mena Massoud is about Ariel (Halle Bailey), an adventurous mermaid who dreamed of a world beyond the sea, rescues the shipwrecked Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King), and follows the voice of her heart to the forbidden human world. It depicts an adventure moving forward. It will be released on the 24th.
Kang Min-kyung, Ten Asia reporter kkk39@tenasia.co.kr