MAGNIFICENT MULAN
Disney's Live-Action Film Comes to VOD
We all know the Disney animated classic Mulan. It follows the titular Mulan, who disguises herself as a boy to take her father’s place in the army and almost single-handedly crushes the movie’s villains. Like many Disney animated classics, Mulan has been given a live-action update. Unlike the remakes for Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King, significant aspects of the story have changed. Notably, the live-action remake will not be a musical, so if live covers of “Reflection” and “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” are what you want, stick to the animated one.
We know Mulan, which was directed by Niki Caro (Whale Rider), will still follow Mulan (Liu Yifei) masquerading as a boy to take her father’s place in war. Mulan’s love interest from the animated film, her commanding officer Li Shang is not in the updated version. According to producer Jason T. Reed, his character is now two new characters: Commander Tung (Donnie Yen) and Chen Honghui (Yoson An).
According to Reed, this decision was made to remove the power imbalance between Li Shang and Mulan. Still, there’s been a backlash from some LGBTQ+ fans who interpreted the character of Li Shang as either bi or pansexual due to his romantic feelings for Mulan’s male alter ego, Ping. Her sidekick, Mushu, also has no part in the live-action flick.
Mulan had its world premiere on March 9, 2020, in Hollywood, California. Its theatrical release was set for March 27, 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic canceled it. Disney rescheduled its release for July 24 and then for August 21. On August 4, Disney announced that Mulan would no longer be released theatrically in the United States. Instead, it will stream on Disney+ starting September 4, 2020. It will be available to rent on the site for a price of $29.99. It will also be released in countries where theaters have reopened or where Disney+ is not available.
