Disney’s Chinese-themed “Mulan” will hit mainland Chinese theaters in just a few days time, and only one week after “Tenet.”
According to Chinese exhibitors “Mulan” will open in theaters on Sept. 11. They said that they received notification Wednesday from China Film Corp., though official websites have not yet been updated to reflect the date confirmation. Online ticketing firms such as Mtime and Alibaba’s Taopiaopiao have also not yet reflected the date confirmation.
Courtesy of Disney
A newly released poster, however, confirms the playdate, and shows it set to play in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D versions.
A teaser poster, recently released when the film had received censorship approval but not a release date, was widely derided by fans who described it as ugly. The new poster features Crystal Liu Yifei as warrior princess Mulan on horseback in front of a charging army, and Liu a second time, bracketed between Chinese stars Donnie Yen and Gong Li.
The film should have reached Chinese and North American theaters in a day-and-date coordinated release in March this ear. But the film was delayed several times over by the coronavirus outbreak.
Disney last month took the controversial decision to forgo a theatrical release in several territories and release it instead as a premium video-on-demand offering to Disney Plus subscribers from Sept. 4. That option, however, only applies in territories where Disney Plus is already operational, leaving others such as China, Russia and Turkey as possible theatrical markets.
Within Asia, “Mulan” will have theatrical releases in Singapore and Thailand on Sept. 4.
It is not just the poster that has proved controversial. Some aspects of the story and the film’s redrawing of certain beloved characters has annoyed fans. In summer last year, Liu attracted significant fire when she posted a message on social media that appeared to support the Hong Kong police in cracking down on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
Liu’s stance was very much in tune with mainland Chinese politics, but outside the country was regarded as a betrayal of Mulan as an independent-spirited character. Reaction was especially strong in Hong Kong, Thailand and South Korea, where demonstrators gathered outside Disney’s distribution offices in Seoul.