‘Mulan’ Released for Streaming Due to Pandemic Concerns
By George Robbins
Recently, movies have been getting released on VOD instead of waiting for a full theatrical release because it is easier for studios to do. For instance, if you were to tell them to wait a lot longer to make money or they can save time and still make money, which option do you think companies would take. This is the dilemma they are currently facing and it is an annoying one because there isn’t actually any kind of right answer. No matter how you look at it, waiting until a theatrical release becomes much more viable is a decision that will no doubt make more money. However, the main problem comes from the fact that studios need money now in order to start working on new projects for the future.
This is why some movies are instead being released straight to VOD so that studios can at least try and make money the way they originally intended to. However, this is resulting in a loss of money because people just like the experience of going to movie theaters which is where most of the immediate money is made for new movies. Unfortunately yet again, people don’t want to go out to the movies even though theaters are now starting to open back up again because of the obvious danger of a pandemic going on right now. This was very heavily taken into account as it was pointed out recently for the Disney+ release of ‘Mulan.’ The Disney company took notice of this fear and they made that apparent recently.
Disney has been doing their best not to try and put out their films at the wrong time in order to try and make the most money they can from the film. Their most recent release is the live-action release for ‘Mulan‘ that they were trying to give a theatrical release. Unfortunately for them, the movie theater situation is still far too volatile and people are not comfortable with them yet, so they made the decision to release the film on Disney+ for a premium on top of the subscription fee. This ended up being a good choice as the number of Disney+ downloads spiked by 68% after the release of the movie to the platform. Needless to say they understand that people are hesitant about the whole situation, despite what they are apparently allowing at their amusement parks.