Mulan star Chen Tang thinks seeing the film on the big screen is a completely different experience than what Disney+ users got from streaming it. Amidst a slew of delays for movies and television during the coronavirus pandemic, Disney opted to release Mulan on their streaming platform instead of in theaters. The move was controversial and Mulan remains one of 2020's biggest films that was moved to streaming instead of some further off date on the release calendar.
For his part, Tang starred as Yao in the live-action adaptation, alongside Yifei Lu as Mulan. The film was the latest in a long line of live-action adaptations of animated Disney classics. Those films prove to be very lucrative at the box office and, in lieu of those profits, Disney opted to charge a premium for access to the movie on their streaming service. Users could pay $29.99 for early access to the film before it premiered on VOD on other services. The film also premiered in theaters in other regions to middling results.
Tang spoke to Insider about the film's release, revealing he was not upset about the delays and the eventual release of the film on Disney+. He did, however, express that he thinks seeing the movie in theaters is a wholly different experience, one that users streaming at home will miss out on. Tang acknowledged that, despite this, he is okay with Disney's decision to release the film in the way that they did, citing the pandemic and audience safety as a top priority:
I feel a mixture of different things. Believe it or not, I wasn't super bummed that it had kept getting pushed back. I wasn't super bummed that it was going on Disney Plus. It was surprising and I was a little bit disappointed simply because we shot it big. It's a big, huge, different experience to see it on a big screen... There's a silver lining in it that a lot of people got to see it instantly and repeatedly on streaming. That's pretty cool, actually.
Mulan's release on streaming was controversial for a multitude of reasons, one of them being the sheer scale of the film. Disney traffics in blockbusters and Mulan is no different. Much like the animated classic it is based on, the film features large scale action sequences that translate best on the big screen. Watching the film at home is not optimal when taking this into consideration and it could be one of the reasons for its lukewarm reception. Movies like Mulan are destined for the big screen, not only so they can turn a larger profit for the studio, but so they can be fully appreciated by fans upon their release.
Mulan's release was at the center of several controversies, but what it meant for the future of moviegoing was at the forefront of the industry's mind when it was put on Disney+. The future of theaters is uncertain. With no end in sight to the pandemic and a safe return to theaters at least a year off, theaters may not be able to survive. If studios like Disney opt to release their blockbusters on streaming services or VOD, that could be the final death knell for the exhibition industry. While the success of Disney's experiment is still up in the air, Mulan's release still portends change for the theater industry, one where major blockbusters do not necessarily have to hit theaters. The release did not start a straight up revolution, with studios still opting to push back most of their major films into 2021 and beyond, it certainly gave them new perspective on just how they could release their films going forward.
Source: Insider