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1:16 pm PDT 9/13/2020
by
Pamela mcclintock
The $ 200 million live-action epic went straight to Disney + in the US and other select territories amid the ongoing pandemic.
From Disney Mulan it underperformed in its China box office debut at a disappointing $ 23.2 million.
The $ 200 million mast was made with Chinese and American audiences in mind.
Directed by Niki Caro, the live adaptation of the classic animated title features popular Chinese actress Liu Yiefei as a young woman who disguises herself as a man to fight in the imperial army. Mulan He co-stars with a host of Chinese film icons, including Gong Li, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, and others.
In the days leading up to the film’s Middle Kingdom premiere, analysts had expected it to gross between $ 30 million and $ 40 million during the Sept. 11-13 frame. (Christopher Nolan BeginningIt had, after all, pitched at $ 30 million the weekend before.)
On Friday, Mulan received particularly low social scores on China’s top ticket apps, Alibaba’s Maoyan and Taopiaopiao, in a prediction of the film’s start of the weekend. Ultimately, Disney’s global vision of a story based on an ancient Chinese fable doesn’t seem to be resonating with viewers in that country.
The Disney event photo was originally scheduled to roll out in cinemas around the world in late March, but those plans were cut short when the novel coronavirus hit, forcing mass theater closures.
Disney pushed back the release date several times before finally deciding to ship. Mulan direct to Disney + at a premium price in the US and other select markets. In other territories, such as China and Russia, Mulan it’s getting a traditional theatrical premiere.
At the end of last year, Mulan became the subject of controversy after Liu voiced support for the Hong Kong police force, which was then in the midst of a brutal crackdown on the city’s pro-democracy movement. His comments sparked a strong reaction online under the hashtag #BoycottMulan. In recent weeks, the online campaign was reactivated.
In addition, in recent days, viewers who saw the film saw a “special thank you” in the film’s credits to various government entities in Xinjiang Provence, where China has been accused of serious human rights abuses of its Muslim minority population. Uigur. (About a minute of the movie was shot in that Provence.)
Addressing the latest uproar of last week, Walt Disney Co. CFO Christine McCarthy said as Mulan was shot almost entirely in New Zealand, the landscape was shot in 20 locations in China or in order to capture the unique landscape of that country. She said it is common industry practice to “acknowledge in the credits of a film the national and local governments that allowed her to film there.”
All said, Mulan it’s playing on the big screen in 17 markets so far, earning $ 37.6 million to date.
The company has not released audience figures for those who paid $ 29.99 to see Caro’s movie on Disney +, though McCarthy told investors she was “very pleased with what we saw over the four-day weekend.”
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