The Little Mermaid Live-Action Film Trailer Unveiled

Finally, fans of the red-haired tail-flipping girl who (at least in the animated version) just wants to be where the people are get their first look at her in living color. Conglomerate Media and Kingsway Production have released the debut trailer for the live-action take on The Little Mermaid.

Directed by Chris Bouchard and Blake Harris, the forthcoming reboot of the well-known tale is actually quite different than the animation-to-human-motion refreshed audiences have become familiar with, for one big reason: it isn't based on Disney's 1989 cartoon classic. Instead, this The Little Mermaid stretches back to 1837 and uses the original source material in Hans Christian Andersen's famous fairytale of the same name as inspiration.

Starring a respectable cast including the likes of Shirley MacLaine, Chronicles of Narnia star William Moseley as a reporter named Cam Harrison, Loreto Peralta from Instructions Not Included as Elle, Empire's Gina Gershon, and Downton Abbey's Poppy Drayton as Elizabeth, the bright-eyed and ambitious titular mermaid. (Sorry, Lindsay Lohan.)

The trailer features Cam and Elle, an uncle-niece pair, traveling to a tiny Mississippi town to track down the mermaid in question, whom Elle believes to be the mystical creature at the center of Anderson's magical tale. Along the way, they encounter a strange woman who knows untold secrets of the Little Mermaid as well as a sinister villain seemingly set on stealing the mermaid for himself.

Take a look at the aquatic adventures in the full clip above.

While no release date has been set for the live-action The Little Mermaid, according to IMDB and the official release trailer, the film will swim to theaters sometime this year. In the meantime, read up on the spooky history behind the underwater princess.