After initially delaying the movie in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Disney is sending its live-action Mulan remake straight to Disney+ – here’s why. In a matter of five months, the ongoing health crisis has had a massive impact on the entertainment industry. Film and TV show productions across the world shut down when the pandemic took a turn for the worse in March, and have only recently restarted in select locations outside of the U.S. (where COVID-19 cases are currently on the rise). The timing was especially bad for Mulan, which was only a couple weeks out from premiering in theaters when everything started closing down.
A live-action reimagining of the studio’s 1998 animated film adaptation of the Chinese legend The Ballad of Mulan, Mulan was originally pushed back four months to July 24, as part of Disney’s post-coronavirus overhaul of their release slate in April. Even at the time, however, many felt the Mouse House was being overly optimistic with the film’s new date. Sure enough, once it became clear U.S. theaters wouldn’t be able to safely begin showing new movies again in July, the studio delayed Mulan again to the latter half of August, only to remove it from the calendar altogether four weeks later.
Disney has now announced it will make Mulan available to watch on Disney+ for $29.99 (not counting the base subscription service cost) beginning Friday, September 4, and plans to release it theatrically on the same day in select markets where Disney+ isn’t available and/or movie theaters are open for business. The news, while unexpected, isn’t completely surprising. Disney had already delayed the film by five months and spent a lot on its marketing, including broadcasting its teaser trailer during the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final and airing a TV spot during the 2020 Super Bowl. Combined with the fact that Mulan is all finished and movie theaters in the U.S. may not largely reopen until mid-2021, the Mouse House has decided to make the film available for viewing now, rather than spending even more money by pushing it back once more.
![Why Mulan Is Releasing On Disney+](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Liu-Yifei-in-Mulan-2020.jpg)
All things considered, it’s too bad Mulan ended up being the Disney movie to find itself in this position. As the rare $200 million Hollywood tentpole that features an all-Asian or Asian-American cast (and a film that, judging by the trailers, deviates significantly from the studio’s 1990s animated adaptation), Mulan is one of Disney’s most important live-action remakes to date, and a spectacle deserving of being experienced on the big screen. Unfortunately, Disney can’t really hold out on releasing content exclusively through Disney+ at no added cost for the remainder of the year. For that reason, in addition to those mentioned earlier, the studio has decided to instead use the movie as a test case to determine whether this unconventional type of distribution can actually work, given the unprecedented circumstances.
For the time being, Disney is describing Mulan‘s release strategy as a one-off and says it has no plans to send its other remaining 2020 films – most notably, Marvel’s Black Widow and Pixar’s Soul, both of which are currently scheduled for November – directly to Disney+. (For their part, a Disney+ insider claims otherwise, saying “We’ve put in enough work that it’s not a one-off”.) Of course, if the strategy pays off, they may decide to change their tune and put other big Disney movies on the platform, at least until the pandemic is brought under control in the U.S. Still, it’s worth re-emphasizing that Mulan‘s release on Disney+ can be attributed to its unique circumstances. Because of this, it wouldn’t, per se, make financial sense for the House of Mouse to do the same thing with their other 2020 titles (especially Black Widow), as opposed to merely delaying them again.
Key Release Dates
Mulan
Release Date:2020-09-04