Actor Mena Massoud generated some controversy with a recent post on Twitter, and the discourse seems to have resulted in him leaving the social media platform altogether. Back in 2019, Massoud played the titular character in Aladdin, the live-action remake of the animated Disney film. The movie was tremendously successful at the box office, garnering more than $1 billion worldwide with over $356 million made domestically.
Next, Disney is rolling the dice with The Little Mermaid, as the live-action remake of that film will hit theaters later this month. On Twitter, a post shared by The Hollywood Handle noted how The Little Mermaid is tracking to earn $115 million domestically for its opening weekend, about $3 million higher than what Aladdin earned in 2019. On his personal account, Massoud responded in a way that many had interpreted as a slight against The Little Mermaid, suggesting it still wouldn’t ultimately join the billion dollar club the way his live-action remake did a few years back.
Massoud’s post read, “Our film was unique in that audiences went to watch it multiple times. It’s the only 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.”
The tweet has since been deleted and Massoud’s account is no longer accessible, but images remain behind and can be seen at TMZ. It seems that Massoud may have abandoned his Twitter account as a result of the ensuing backlash that arose from posting his tweet. Some fans of The Little Mermaid and its star Halle Bailey criticized Massoud for getting involved and seemingly throwing shade at The Little Mermaid with his prediction that most filmgoers wouldn’t be watching the film for a second time, unlike Aladdin.
The Aladdin Sequel May Have Fallen Apart
It wouldn’t be a stretch to speculate that Massoud’s frustrations with Aladdin 2 may have come into play when commenting on a separate live-action remake from Disney. For years, there has been talk of giving Aladdin a sequel, but the project has been stalling nonstop in development hell. While director Guy Ritchie teased in February that there were still ideas being kicked around, Massoud said the following month that the project was pretty much dead in the water.
“Very unlikely at this point,” Massoud wrote on Twitter at the time to a fan asking if Aladdin 2 was ever going to happen.
The Little Mermaid will be released in movie theaters on May 26, 2023. Directed by Rob Marshall and written by David Magee, the film stars Halle Bailey as Ariel with the cast also including Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, Jonah Hauer-King as Eric, Javier Bardem as King Triton, and Noma Dumezweni as Queen Selina. Voicing animal characters int he movie are Jacob Tremblay as Flounder, Daveed Diggs as Sebastian, and Awkwafina in the role of Scuttle.
You can view the official trailer below.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
