Originally slated to open this past March, Disney’s live-action Mulan film will now be available on the Disney+ subscription service for $29.99 as of September 4. The film will also open in select countries, including regions where Disney+ is not yet available (including China, which is a major market for Hollywood films).
“We see this as an opportunity to bring this incredible film to a broad audience, currently unable to go to movie theaters, while also further enhancing the value and attractiveness of a Disney+ subscription with this great content,” Disney CEO Bob Chapek said today during an earnings call.
A number of recent films originally scheduled for theatrical release in 2020 have gone straight to video-on-demand in recent weeks, including Trolls: World Tour, The King of Staten Island, Palm Springs, and Hamilton, which was scheduled for a theatrical release in 2021 and instead debuted on Disney+ last month. Mulan is priced considerably higher than the $19.99 rental fee those films commanded and doesn’t include the monthly $6.99 Disney+ fee but is a purchase, rather than a rental, a crucial distinction for families where kids routinely watch the same films over and over.
Mulan also cost much more than those films; with a reported budget of $200 million (and a sizeable marketing budget that might even exceed that), Disney is trying to make as much back as they can, given that theatres in many parts of the world are still shuttered.
“In terms of the premier access idea, as you probably know, Disney tent-pole blockbuster theatrical films can be fairly expensive to make and produce in order to get the quality that consumers expect from us and frankly to get the quality that we expect from us,” Chapek said.
Check out the trailer for Mulan below.
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