Disney Paid $10 Million for That Awkward ‘Little Mermaid’ Trailer During the Oscars

This year’s Oscars was filled with pricey ads. The most peculiar one came in the middle of the ceremony when the stars of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” introduced the new trailer.

The stars of the upcoming live-action The Little Mermaid Melissa McCarthy and Halle Bailey introduced the trailer about halfway-through the ceremony.

As the ceremony was happening, I wrote:

And now a message from our corporate overlords: I know Disney owns ABC but they literally just broadcast a trailer in the middle of the ceremony. They’re shamefully using the Oscars to sell their movie and not even hiding it.

This moment caught a lot of Oscar attendees and viewers by surprise, it was total corporate pandering, but done on-stage and live. It turns out that this stunt came at a hefty sum of money.

Per a report from Indiewire, the intro and trailer cost Disney upwards of $10 million.

The $10 million fee is quite high considering 30-second ads for the telecast went for around $2 million. But when you’re Disney, $10 million probably feels like nothing.

It also makes a lot of sense when you realize that ABC, the network that aired the Oscars, is owned by Disney. So, did the money actually even change hands? Sources tell IndieWire “actual money actually changed hands” as the two companies are treated like “church and state.” Right.

And yet, amidst all of this corporate shilling, they still couldn’t fit the time to include Paul Sorvino, Phillip Baker Hall, Anne Heche and Tom Sizemore in the “In Memoriam” segment.