Disney’s Live Action “Mulan” Postponed a Fourth Time
Starring Liu Yifei (劉亦菲) and Donnie Yen (甄子丹), Disney’s live action remake of their 1998 animated film Mulan is being postponed once again due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
First announced in 2016, Mulan officially started principal photography in August 2018 after casting Liu Yifei in the lead role. The film was originally scheduled for release on March 27, 2020, but the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak had forced Disney to push it back to July 24, 2020. The release was delayed again to August 21, 2020.
With coronavirus cases continuously rising in the U.S., leading to 4 million confirmed cases and over 100,000 deaths in the last five months, Disney has decided to indefinitely postpone Mulan’s release until further notice.
While Hollywood is slowly recovering with principal photography restarting for many movies, many states in the country are limiting large gatherings, making it more difficult for cinemas to screen movies freely.
Even Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated action film, Tenet, was postponed indefinitely. Nolan had been fighting to retain the film’s July release date, hoping that the film would be an incentive for moviegoers to return to theaters, but the COVID-19 spike is making that plan difficult to come into fruition.
Other postponed movies include Marvel’s Black Widow, which was delayed from May to November 2020; and the James Bond film No Time To Die, delayed from April to November 2020.
Source: HK01.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
I think in the US – A safe bet is just release over streaming. Charge a set or fix amount for one time stream. Sure the profit margin won’t be as high as releasing in theaters but it’s better than nothing. I think restrictions and the population will be in higher alert when winter rolls around. We’ll continue to have C19 and then seasonal flu and cold all at once…
@jjwong yup, they haven’t even hit peak yet, like a lot of the countries that dealt well with coronavirus hit a peak and plateau, US is still going up and will be for a long while at this stage. So yea, stream or wait out for at least another year >_>
@littlefish @jjwong US handled covid19 horribly. How are the cases still increasing vs other countries where cases are going down?? NY was hit the worse, yet there are barely any hospitalizations & deaths in NY now. This is the difference of competent vs incompetent leadership. Trump literally just decided to wear a mask 4 months later into the pandemic.
@luye Everything is rapidly going downhill in the US. The next step will be provoking a war with China to divert attention from his incompetent leadership.
@msxie0714 yup, however, apparently neither country can afford the war lol, so they will have to do proxy war. And yes, it’s sad to see US is going down like this, half of my family are there >_<
@jjwong Unfortunately a straight to stream release for movies this big is basically impossible =S They make most of their money on the first 2 weeks in theaters but worst of all it’ll be immediately pirated. I think some studios are considering doing staggered releases.
@nanika well Tom Hank’s greyhound movie was released on Apple+. And while it might be a lost in revenue for him because that movie was excellent and deserve all the cash it would rake in if it’s not for the pandemic, but it shows it’s not impossible?
@littlefish True~ theoretically its not impossible but the chance is very slim. Greyhound is also not an apples to apples comparison since Mulan is way bigger. An important note; Apple TV bought the distribution rights to Greyhound so Sony still made money. The only way I see Mulan going to stream before theaters is if Disney needs money asap =S but that’s unlikely…
@nanika because greyhound’s budget is only a quarter of Mulan? Yet it’s so good lol, proving once again High budget doesn’t Make it a good movie. Yes, Apple bought the distribution rights, and I did mention below that mulan cant have its distribution right sold off as if the movie any good, Disney would want to keep it for their Disney+, and if it’s bad, no one would pay high price for it. Lose-lose really. And my point is for any movie, not mulan specifically lol. In mulan case though, you are right, it’s impossible xD also it’s foretelling that it’ll be a crappy movie
@jjwong
for small budget films they can release over streaming platforms but for big budget films, they will lose billions so they still much rather release when the theaters open. they won’t be filming for a while so there’d be a void to fill when things go back to normal.
@jjwong
They will never release a big budget production such as Mulan straight to any online streaming platform. That would be economic suicide. The disparity isn’t about making less. They will lose everything if they do.
Movies will be pirated immediately and will end up on streaming movie sites for download and or stream. Most people will just pirate it.
Right ofc I understand the implication and loss for the business if it goes straight streaming. I was saying just stream it from a consumer POV.
BTW, there are more means to stop pirate via streaming. They can lock down any recording apps from the same system. I’ve seen it where you can’t even use the print screen button. However, ofc, you can record it from a different device like separate cell phone or cam-cord, which you can’t stop in the theater anyways
@jjwong with so many on lock down, ppls are subscribed to one streaming service or another. All you need to do is doing a deal with all of the streaming platform xD I think it’s the confidence that isn’t there. Like who would pay big money for Mulan? And with Disney has its own streaming service, it makes it harder to sell their big blockbuster movie? Because if it’s any good, Disney wants to keep it for their own channel, but at the same time, ppl who subscribe to Disney is like kids and teens who do not care about mulan. They are in a pickle for this one