Mulan (Live-Action)

[Sotiris]

Christina Aguilera performed a medley of "Reflection" and "Loyal, Brave, True" on Good Morning America.


Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEha4o_pLUJ/


Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEjd_sApGxJ/


Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEuSEUBp-fi/

[UmbrellaFish]

Do you think they revealed the December 4th date as a way to cover themselves? Maybe legally in some way? Or at least so that the customer reps can tell customers who are angry about the title leaving the Premiere tier in December after they bought the movie that Disney was always open about the movie leaving?

Speaking for myself, I will wait for reviews now (whereas I would have almost definitely gone to the theatre had it premiered there exclusively after the pandemic). But knowing it’s only going to be a short 3 month wait, I am even more inclined to just sit it out. Maybe if Mulan was added to my Movies Anywhere account after the D+ Premiere exclusive period ran out.... but that’s not going to be the case, though, correct?

[Sotiris]

Maybe if Mulan was added to my Movies Anywhere account after the D+ Premiere exclusive period ran out.... but that’s not going to be the case, though, correct?

It's highly unlikely. Movies Anywhere doesn't support Disney+, so the only way to do that would be if Disney gave people who "unlocked premier access" on Disney+, codes to redeem the title on Movies Anywhere. But for that to happen, Disney would have to first make the title available for digital purchase, which I doubt they will. I think they'll keep it as Disney+ exclusive.

[Sotiris]

Is it me or does the director seem to look down on musical theater? Her response rubbed me the wrong way.

Q: For people who grew up with this Disney animated version, the songs were integral to the film. When you made the decision not to include any, was Disney on board?

Niki Caro: It was always implicit [that there would be no songs]. In the epic vision of this movie, it was implicit that it wasn't going to be a Gilbert and Sullivan situation.

Q: You mentioned that in real life, we don't really break out into song do we?

Niki Caro: We don't!

Source: https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a3295 ... niki-caro/

[Tristy]

Is it me or does the director seem to look down on musical theater? Her response rubbed me the wrong way.

Q: For people who grew up with this Disney animated version, the songs were integral to the film. When you made the decision not to include any, was Disney on board?

Niki Caro: It was always implicit [that there would be no songs]. In the epic vision of this movie, it was implicit that it wasn't going to be a Gilbert and Sullivan situation.

Q: You mentioned that in real life, we don't really break out into song do we?

Niki Caro: We don't!

Source: https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a3295 ... niki-caro/

Oh yes. And a witch can turn into a bird in real life.

[blackcauldron85]

This was on my Google homepage. Pretty 'duh' for us in the know, but I'll be sending it to my mom:

Why Disney is releasing 'Mulan' on Disney+ for $30
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/30/media/mu ... index.html

[Sotiris]

New Chinese poster. This is one of the better posters for the film. I wonder if they released a new one because the previous one got heavily criticized by Chinese people online.


Source: https://hot.cnbeta.com/articles/movie/1023693.htm

[Sotiris]

Things are getting weirder. According to The Verge, Mulan will stop being available for premier access on November 2nd. That means people will only be able to buy access to the film for two months. So, from Sept. 4 — Nov. 2, subscribers will be able to unlock premier access for the price of $30. From Nov. 3 — Dec. 3, subscribers will not be able to buy access to the film anymore (but those who previously bought it will continue to have access to it), and on Dec. 4 every subscriber will gain access to the film for free. What kind of messed up release strategy is this? Will they really be able to make their money back in just two months?

[Farerb]

It's two months and I'm guessing that the people who want to see the film will buy it by that point, no one will pay for just one month.
I'm also guessing that the film will be released in home media and be available for digital purchase around November 2nd.

[Sotiris]

Producer Jason Reed talks about the film.

Q: How do the live-action feature adaptations of Disney’s animated films get off the ground, and in particular Mulan? Does everything start with Disney President of Production Sean Bailey?

Jason Reed: I think there are a lot of different ways these come together, I don’t think there’s a pattern for it, necessarily. I know that when we started, I was an executive at Disney when we did Alice and Wonderland, and that was because (screenwriter) Linda Woolverton had a fresh, new take on the story. There wasn’t a pattern of doing those movies yet, so it was based solely on someone coming in with a new creative approach that got us excited about re-examining a piece of entertainment. With Mulan the executive team read a spec script that had some new elements that refreshed the story and explored her journey a little more deeply than the animated movie had the ability to do. I think the executives, Sean, and the executives at Disney saw an opportunity to dig into this story in a new way and thought that it fit with that moment.

Q: The original 1998 film came out of Disney’s 1990s animated musical renaissance, but what was the decision behind not making the live-action feature, a musical?

Jason Reed: Part of our thinking is that we thought that this material would be a great opportunity to do something new for the Disney label, to take this and convert it from a musical comedy, which the animated film was, which is great. We still love it, and it’s one of my favorite Disney animated movies of all time. That movie still exists, but then to take that material and use it as the foundation on which to do a big epic adventure movie. You can’t watch Gladiator with your five-year-old, it’s just not appropriate. But I love those movies, and when I was growing up I loved watching David Lean movies, and I loved watching these big-scale movies that told big stories.

Q: What was it about Niki Caro’s pitch that won the studio over? Marvel has established this great track record in hiring independent feature directors who lend their storytelling sensibility and vision to big budget spectacles. Was that also the thinking here?

Jason Reed: We had two big traditions that we wanted to honor making this film. We wanted to honor the cultural origins of the original story and we felt like we needed to honor the storytelling tradition of Disney. You have this huge fanbase for the original animated movie, you have this centuries-long global fanbase for the original story, and the movie, it subsequently becomes such a strong touch point for several other audiences as well: females in general, Asian diaspora and the LGBTQ community. So, we had a movie that was an important story for so many different people, and one of the things that we all knew was going to be important was how are we respectful and thoughtful about how we address all of that.

When I thought of Niki’s filmography, she has always been defined by her ability to go into specific cultures, find the universal story, and bring a mass audience into that world, whether it’s the Maori culture with Whale Rider or the miners in North Country or the runners in McFarland, USA, she has a sensitivity and a character-based approach to telling a story that I think allows her to put all of those pieces together. Secondly, she knows how to do a lot with less. Every day she was a problem solver. She just comes at telling story from a human, very character-driven place, and yes, we knew we had to do it at a scope, and a scale, and the action, and all of the thrills, but she never got lost in all of that because the most important thing for her was how do we use all of these tools to tell this woman’s story, and that’s a very independent way of thinking. So, I think those were the two things that really got the studio excited, and she just came in and won it in the room in the way she talked about building the team, and building the action, and telling the story, and bringing authenticity to a young woman’s journey and to finding a way to really make clear the pressures that someone at that time would face in their community.

Source: https://deadline.com/2020/09/mulan-jaso ... 203028065/

[Disney's Divinity]

These two interviews, wow. These guys have to twist their heads all the way up their backsides to say the kind of contradictory lies they tell. "We want to honor Disney's storytelling [by making this movie nothing like the original whatsoever]"; "You can't watch big epic adventure movies with your five-year-old [except, oh, wait, this movie is being targeted at family audiences still...]" That last one especially. I'm pretty sure I grew up watching The Lord of the Rings without it being thought inappropriate viewing for my age group. And you can tell how much the interviewers don't give a crap about these interviews otherwise they'd actually prepare for them and ask why they think a movie with a witch villainess is considered being more faithful to the source material exactly?

Ho-hum. I'm glad the release of this film ended up being a trainwreck for them all around. I'm still wondering why Disney thinks Chinese audiences dislike musicals anyway (for both this film and Raya)?

[estefan]

I think if somebody paid the $30 to watch the movie in November, only to see it become available at no extra charge a few weeks later, they would feel ripped off. So I can understand Disney's reasoning there.

[Farerb]

The score at RT is up and down so it's too early to know where it'll stop but so far it's in the 70%-80% range which seems appropriate for this kind of film.

[Farerb]

Seeing some reviews and I'm not surprised at the way they treated Mulan since it's how they treated their women characters in the remakes so far. For them she can't be an ordinary girl who got into a certain situation and needs to use her brains to deal with it, she has to have superpowers now she's a #GirlBoss™.
Why is it so wrong of Belle or Jasmine or Mulan to show any emotion or cry? That doesn't make them weak, it makes them human.

[Sotiris]

More articles.

'Mulan' cinematographer is happy fans will finally get to see the movie even if it means they're watching it from home
https://www.insider.com/mandy-walker-ex ... lus-2020-8

'Mulan' cinematographer breaks down key moments from the live-action movie
https://www.insider.com/mulan-cinematog ... -interview

The producer of 'Mulan' is disappointed that audiences won't see one of the movie's epic battle scenes in theaters
https://www.insider.com/mulan-producer- ... ers-2020-9

Disney's live-action 'Mulan' considered musical montages but they struggled with how to adapt the music into the new movie
https://www.insider.com/live-action-mul ... reflection

Listen to a new version of 'I'll Make a Man Out of You' that was pitched for Disney's live-action 'Mulan'
https://www.insider.com/new-ill-make-a- ... ong-2020-9

Disney originally wanted to cut 'Reflection' from the animated 'Mulan.' A compromise was made to keep it in the final movie
https://www.insider.com/disney-wanted-c ... ated-movie

The original 'Mulan' co-director breaks down how he feels about the changes made in the live-action movie
https://www.insider.com/mulan-codirecto ... -the-movie

Why the original co-director of 'Mulan' is OK with the change to her romantic interest in the live-action movie
https://www.insider.com/original-mulan- ... characters

The live-action 'Mulan' has a clever nod to a fan-favorite character from the animated movie
https://www.insider.com/is-crikee-crick ... tion-mulan

All the characters from the live-action 'Mulan,' ranked
https://www.insider.com/all-the-mulan-c ... ked-2020-9

All the ways Disney's live-action 'Mulan' is different from the animated movie
https://www.insider.com/disney-mulan-li ... vie-2020-9

37 of the biggest differences the live-action 'Mulan' makes from the animated movie
https://www.insider.com/mulan-differenc ... ated-movie

32 details you may have missed in Disney's live-action 'Mulan'
https://www.insider.com/live-action-mul ... references

How Disney's live-action 'Mulan' cameo came together
https://www.insider.com/live-action-mul ... -wen-cameo

[UmbrellaFish]

How Disney's live-action 'Mulan' cameo came together
https://www.insider.com/live-action-mul ... -wen-cameo

How wonderful! I didn’t know about this, or else I forgot. Is this the first time a voice actor has cameo’d in the live action remake? It makes me a little more optimistic that Jodi Benson might appear in TLM, although that may be complicated by COVID now.

[UmbrellaFish]

https://twitter.com/mariograciotti/stat ... 49472?s=21

That is a very direct commercial to a very specific audience. Even the castle used for the generic Disney logo is not recognizable as a real theme park castle, instead a made-up castle taking inspiration from both Sleeping Beauty Castle and Cinderella Castle.

[Clindor]

Why is it so wrong of Belle or Jasmine or Mulan to show any emotion or cry? That doesn't make them weak, it makes them human.

Like, how many times did we watch 2019-Mulan cry so far with the trailers ? Like twice, three times ?? That's more than what the original Mulan did in the 1998-film ^^! And those are only trailers, not the complete film. (I have two clear scenes that comes to my mind right now as I write.) I don't know, but if you're specifically looking for an emotional Mulan, you might actually get what you want! Lol. And I suppose that probably the writers didn't intend to get rid of this character trait to begin with.

That means people will only be able to buy access to the film for two months. [...] What kind of messed up release strategy is this? Will they really be able to make their money back in just two months?

I believe (but I may be proven wrong) November will be the month when the movie will be physically released on Blu-ray/4K. And if so, then people will always be able to buy the movie during this third month somehow... I guess the fact of "removing" the premier access is part of a strategy to put pressure on the customers, and reboost the sells during this third month knowning that the sells for premier access would have dropped anyway since the movie will be free on this same platform one month later. Besides, physical releases and streaming are two distinctive services that don't share the same pros and cons, so it would be a great time window to release the Blu-ray/4K then. Then, I'm not a financial analyst. So you know.

https://twitter.com/mariograciotti/stat ... 49472?s=21

That is a very direct commercial to a very specific audience. Even the castle used for the generic Disney logo is not recognizable as a real theme park castle, instead a made-up castle taking inspiration from both Sleeping Beauty Castle and Cinderella Castle.

I knew about the Shanghai Disneyland Castle back in March, I think that's pretty clever! ^^..

[RyGuy]

It was ok. Better than I thought It would be, but I didn’t love it.

As for the premiere access price tag, I wasn’t thrilled, but I figure I would have spent that to take my kids to the movies to see it anyway. When I bought it, it said I could stream and download until I no longer had Disney+

If they make it generally available after a few months, I don’t really see that as all that different than if you pay to see a movie in the theater vs if you wait a few months and pay less to rent it on blu ray or streaming

[Marce82]

I saw it.... it was... passable. Not great.

A few thoughts, and I will try to keep it spoiler free.

I didn't mind the omission of Mushu and the cricket... or the musical numbers, none of those things would have fit this version of the film.

- Art direction is BEAUTIFUL. Really, a great looking film.

- Some of the constraints to keep a WAR movie as PG were a little ridiculous.

- The editing was pretty bad... several times I suddenly went "wait... what just happened"... there were several moments of weird, quick cuts, and it was confusing. And a lot of repetitive stuff. At the beginning of a battle, there are literally SIX consecutive shots of different angles of the same group of men on horses...

- The directing was... a bit clunky. Certain crucial shots seemed to be omitted, and other things dragged... also, a lot of awkward trucking in and out shots.

- There was little-to-no character development, and that affected the emotional core of the film. I won't spoil it, but there is a major change to the Mulan character that changes the main theme of the movie completely... I mean, I'm glad this isn't a carbon copy of the 1998 version... but I think a remake should hold on to the main theme of the original...