‘Mulan’ Will Show in Chinese Theaters One Week After Its Disney+ Release
By George Robbins
Disney is by far one of the largest companies to exist in the world at this moment and they control some of the biggest franchises in existence. The Disney Company was started by the eponymous Walt Disney many a year ago and it has evolved into a massive multi-media empire. Within the past decade alone, they have managed to obtain some of the biggest franchise rights in existence. This, combined with the animated films that their studios are known for, has made them catapult to the top of the industry. So now, Disney has become one of the biggest household names nowadays and they are known worldwide.
As of late, they have had a rough go of things due to the pandemic and therefore they have been losing out on revenue hand-over-fist. This has resulted in the company trying to come up with a good way to make back their money that they were losing. Unfortunately, this is to no avail because everything related to the company has been shut down due to the pandemic. Their amusement parks were completely shut down and even though a majority of them are now open again, they have restrictions in place. This is how we ended up with the vast limitations for their parks and the other option they had to decide on was when they were going to put their finished films in theaters.
As already mentioned, Disney is a multi-media empire, therefore they make most of their money from the shows and movies that they produce. Unfortunately yet again, theaters have been shut down since the start of the pandemic and thus, new movies haven’t been able to release. It is only as of recently that movie theaters have begun to reopen their doors to the public and even then, they have restrictions on them. Disney has been able to make up for this a little bit because of their premiere streaming service Disney+ which has hit its stride during this pandemic. It doesn’t make up for most of the money they lost out on, but it most certainly helps them in the long run. The newest upcoming title that will soon be available for people to watch on the service is ‘Mulan.’
‘Mulan’ is the upcoming live-action remake to the original animated film of the same name which follows the titular heroine as she fights the huns in China. The movie was pushed back numerous times due to delays in the reopening of theaters, but it eventually started taking too long. Even though Disney was holding out for a proper theatrical release, they eventually decided to make the film available on Disney+. The thing is, though, that people have to pay $30 on top of their subscription to own the movie. Disney+ is also not available in China, so Disney has decided that they will still give the movie its theatrical release over there and it will be much cheaper by comparison. This decision is one that some people can see a problem with.
Though it does make sense for Disney to release the movie in China if their theaters are readily open and available, the cost for it domestically is seen as being too high. That aside, this is their plan for releasing the film moving forward. The movie is set for its scheduled release date on the Disney+ streaming platform on September 4th. Meanwhile, they plan on releasing the films to Chinese theaters on September 11th, exactly one week later. This is all so that they can maximize the amount of revenue that they can end up making off of the movie and within a week’s time we will know if this strategy of theirs pays off. The movie could just end up being labeled a commercial failure.