Disney will indefinitely postpone the release of “Mulan” and delay the release of new installments in the “Avatar” and “Star Wars” movie franchises, the studio announced Thursday, giving another hit to theaters with a pandemic.
The company, one of the pillars of the global entertainment business, said the decisions were made in response to theater closings and production shutdowns amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“In the past few months, it has become clear that nothing can be set in stone when it comes to how we release movies during this global health crisis, and today that means pausing our release plans for ‘Mulan’ as we evaluate how we can effectively bring this film forward. to audiences around the world, “a spokesman for Walt Disney Studios said in a statement.
“Mulan,” a live-action remake of the beloved 1998 animated film, was originally slated to debut on March 27 before it was moved to July 24 and then extended to August 21.
The move comes three days after Warner Bros. removed the mind-boggling spy thriller “Tenet” from its August release schedule. The film, directed by Christopher Nolan, had been scheduled for August 12 after being delayed twice.
The movie show business has been struggling in recent months as public officials ordered theaters to close and major Hollywood studios indicated they would release more titles on home streaming platforms.
“Mulan” and “Tenet” were widely viewed as benchmarks of Hollywood’s attempts to start a financial rally. Leading studios rely on robust gross box office revenue for profit on big-budget projects. “Mulan” and “Tenet” each cost approximately $ 200 million to produce, according to widely reported estimates.
Disney said Thursday that the pandemic has forced the company to make “additional adjustments to our longer-term slate plans,” including delaying future entries in the “Avatar” and “Star Wars” sagas one year at a time.
The sequel to “Avatar” (2009), for example, will now debut in 2022 instead of 2021, while the first installment in an untitled series “Star Wars” has changed from 2022 to 2023.
Mulan “, directed by Niki Caro (” Whale Rider “), tells the story of a young Chinese woman who disguises herself as a warrior. It is the first major Disney movie with an Asian cast. The film sparked controversy in August. star, Chinese-American actress Liu Yifei, suggested that she supported police crackdown on Hong Kong protesters.
