Disney’s Mulan has a new summer premiere date. The entertainment industry has been hit extremely hard by the coronavirus pandemic over the last few weeks. Even Disney has dealt with its share of hardships, losing $20 million in profits a day from its amusement park closures. Additionally, several of its films - including Black Widow, The Woman in the Window, and Mulan - have been postponed due to the closure of movie theaters around the world.
Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan, like its title character, is no stranger to adversity. Mulan was initially set to come out in 2018. Director Niki Caro was intent on casting the perfect Mulan who was the right ethnicity, could speak English and had combat training. After an unsuccessful first round of casting, Caro began a second round of casting when she found Liu Yifei. However, before Yifei was cast, there were rumors circulating that Mulan was being white-washed and that Jennifer Lawrence was in the running. Angry fans created a petition calling to "Tell Disney You Don't Want a Whitewashed Mulan!" Even once Yifei was cast, many fans were put off after she actively vocalized her support for the oppressive Hong Kong police. Mulan faced its greatest setback when its China premiere date was postponed, followed shortly by its U.S. release in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Fortunately, Disney has secured a new U.S. premiere date for Mulan. In a press release, the studio announced the film will now debut on July 24, 2020. The date was previously being reserved for Disney’s Jungle Cruise (which will now premiere around a year later on July 20, 2021, instead).
Summer of 2020 may be an ambitious opening date for the live-action Mulan remake. While most movie premieres that have been cancelled or sent directly to streaming have been in April or May, many other big-time summer events have been postponed over concerns about the coronavirus, including the 2020 Summer Olympics, Governors Ball, and the Daytime Emmys. Additionally, China only just began to reopen movie theaters after a 6 month recovery before shutting them back down after just one weekend. Presumably, then, the U.S. still has a long way to go before it's fully operational again.
However, once Mulan is able to hit theaters (whether it's July 2020 or further in the future), it will offer a new take on a Disney classic in a way unlike any of the studio's live-action remakes have. This version will focus more on the roots of the Chinese origin story it's based on. Additionally, it will have no musical numbers or animal sidekicks, allowing the film to focus more on the serious moments like the war. Die-hard Disney fans will have to stay tuned for further updates.
Source: Disney
