Melissa McCarthy Getting A Little Mermaid Spinoff?
Melissa McCarthy wants to star in a The Little Mermaid spin-off about Ursula.
The Little Mermaid, which saved Disney and launched a new golden age of animation, is the next film to get a live-action adaptation featuring Halle Bailey as Ariel. Of course, there were other cast standouts, such as Melissa McCarthy’s villainous Ursula. In fact, McCarthy’s performance is allegedly so good that Javier Bardem even suggested a spin-off starring Ursula during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
Javier Bardem plays King Triton in The Little Mermaid adaptation, and the two are rival siblings, so of course, he also suggested that he have at least one scene in an Ursuala spin-off. Melissa McCarthy was down, replying, “Let’s go for six or seven if we’re throwing it out there.” Of course, the two were (sort of) joking, but if there was going to be a spin-off, Ursula would certainly be one of the most interesting characters to learn more about.
It also wouldn’t be the first time that Disney decided to make a live-action spin-off starring one of their villains. In fact, the Angelina Jolie starring Maleficent, and the Emma Stone starring Cruella are probably some of the best live-action movies derived from Disney’s animated films. It’s easy to see how Melissa McCarthy could lead a film that gives us the origin of the villainous sea witch.
While Disney may or may not make an Ursula spin-off in the future, fans can at least see Melissa McCarthy bring the character to life in The Little Mermaid, which hits theaters this weekend. Despite some strange-looking CGI animals and some muddy underwater CGI, the early consensus is that The Little Mermaid live-action adaptation is a fairly solid outing from Disney. The film is definitely anchored by Halle Bailey’s star-making performance as Ariel, but the film has some other positive aspects as well.
The Little Mermaid follows the same basic premise as the animated film, with Ariel trading her beautiful voice for a pair of legs that allow her to explore the surface world. Along with Halle Bailey’s Ariel and Melissa McCarthy’s Ursula, the film stars Javier Bardem as King Triton, Jonah Hauer-King as Eric, Daveed Diggs as Sebastian, Jacob Tremblay as Flounder, and Awkwafina as Scuttle. The film is directed by Rob Marshall and written by David Magee.
Outside of The Little Mermaid, we can also look forward to a couple more upcoming movies from Melissa McCarthy. Although neither has a release date yet, McCarthy is set to star in Unfrosted along with a remake of the Christmas movie Bernard and the Genie for Universal and Peacock. The Christmas movie will be directed by Sam Boyd, written by Richard Curtis (who wrote the original), and also stars Paapa Essiedu.
Unfrosted is definitely the stranger project in Melissa McCarthy’s upcoming docket of projects, as the film will follow corporate rivals Kellogg and Post in 1963 as they battle to create the ideal breakfast cake. Even weirder, this true story based on the origin of Pop-Tarts will be directed by Jerry Seinfeld. Along with McCarthy, the impressive cast for Unfrosted includes Maria Bakalova, James Marsden, Hugh Grant, Rachael Harris, Christian Slater, Max Greenfield, Jim Gaffigan, Amy Schumer, Jack McBrayer, Bobby Moynihan, and Seinfeld himself.
