Last Updated: January 16, 2020
How long will Disney leave between the digital release of Mulan and a streaming debut on Disney+? With The Lion King and Aladdin, Disney has enjoyed success in remaking 1990s animated classics into big budget, live-action blockbusters. Next on the list was Mulan, the classic tale of young girl in ancient China taking her father’s place as a warrior with the help of a wise-cracking cartoon dragon. With stunning visuals and an exciting Asian cast, Mulan looked set to be one of the biggest movie releases of 2020. And then the pandemic happened. Disney eventually announced that Mulan would no longer premiere in theaters, but instead dop digitally with a $29.99 price tag to purchase the film.
COVID-19 has wreaked havoc across the world, with the entertainment industry just one facet of the mass disruption caused. Some movies, (the likes of Tenet and New Mutants) still opted to release in theaters, Trolls World Tour went straight to digital, Artemis Fowl arrived on Disney+, and Bill & Ted Face The Music had have a joint theatrical and digital opening. Studios are desperately trying out new distribution models in a world still very far from normal, and as highlighted by Trolls World Tour, not entirely without success. But with all due respect to Scoob, Mulan is easily the most high-profile, expensive and hotly-anticipated film to go digital in the pandemic era. While Disney have stressed that the $30 price point allows consumers to purchase Mulan for keeps, some have balked at the figure. How long until Mulan gets its inevitable Disney+ release and becomes available to subscribers for free?
As revealed by Disney on September 2, 2020, the live-action version of Mulan will become available free – or more accurately, at no additional cost – to Disney+ subscribers on December 4, 2020. Needless to say that’s much sooner than many expected.
There was arguably plenty of reason for Disney to leave a much longer gap between Mulan’s initial premium streaming release and its standard Disney+ arrival. Since fans aren’t getting the big screen Mulan experience, Disney really needed to justify the $30 price purely via exclusivity. Will customers already subscribed to Disney+ be willing to pay out extra cash just for a three-month head start? Surely there would have had to be at least a year between Mulan‘s September VOD release and its streaming debut to make the pricy purchase worthwhile?
Much is riding on how successful Mulan‘s pioneering distribution strategy proves to be. The pandemic means anything released this year, especially while movie theaters are still restricted, will make less money, meaning digital releases could offer a better chance for studios to recoup their investment. If Mulan‘s September roll-out performs strongly, Disney might wish it had held off on a streaming debut for as long as those $30 payments are coming in. On the other hand, if the prospect of paying movie ticket-level prices to watch Mulan on a laptop doesn’t prove enticing, Disney might be happy it cut its losses and decided not to drag things out.
Key Release Dates
Mulan
Release Date:2020-09-04
