The thing to remember is that the internet is not representative of the attitudes of general audiences, many of whom are not invested enough in the issue to participate in online polls but would still fork over cash for any new offering from the Mouse Empire.
At the end of the day, the fact remains thatMulanis not very high on the must-see list ofDisney fans, considering the original animated movie was itself not as big a hit asThe Lion KingorAladdin, sointerest in the live-action movieis also lower.
The live-actionMulanis also facing a certain resistance online due to criticism faced by lead actress Yifei Liu from certain sections of society in her home country of China, which has even led to calls to boycott the movie on social media.
Keeping all these factors in mind, it will be interesting to see how Disney’s experiment with releasing a big-budget movie online will fare, and if the exercise will ultimately prove to be worth angering theater chains the world over. IfMulandefies the odds, and winds up earning a lot of money for the company, then expect to see more such blockbusters going the VOD route, fromBlack WidowtoWonder Woman 1984.
Directed by Niki Caro, Disney’sMulanstars Yifei Liu as the lead character of Mulan, a young girl in ancient China who takes the place of her father in the army, and undergoes a brutal rite of passage as she learns what it takes to become a battle-hardened warrior. The remake is said to have moved away from the musical aspects of the original animated movie, into the territory of old-fashioned ‘wuxia’ martial arts fantasy movies, with elaborate wirework in the action scenes, the likes of which have been seen inThe MatrixandCrouching Tiger Hidden Dragonin the past.
The rest of the cast ofMulancomprises of Donnie Yen as Commander Tung, Jason Scott Lee as Böri Khan and Yoson An as Cheng Honghui, with Gong Li as Xianniang and Jet Li as the Emperor. The film arrives onDisney+and in select theaters on Sept. 4.
