Disney has pulled “Mulan” from the studio’s release calendar as cases of coronavirus continue to rise across the country and new outbreaks roil major foreign markets.
“Over the last few months, it’s become clear that nothing can be set in stone when it comes to how we release films during this global health crisis, and today that means pausing our release plans for ‘Mulan’ as we assess how we can most effectively bring this film to audiences around the world,” a Disney spokesperson said.
This is the fourth delay for “Mulan,” which was first scheduled to debut on March 27. It was pulled right before its planned release as coronavirus began to spread in North America. Disney moved the film to July 24 and then to Aug. 21.
Movie theaters in North America — and the rest of the world — have been closed since March due to public health concerns. Studios and exhibitors had hoped business could resume in July, but those plans have started to look increasingly unlikely. And Los Angeles and New York City — two of the most important moviegoing markets in the country — currently don’t have concrete plans to reopen.
Earlier this week, Warner Bros. announced that it was moving Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” from August to an unspecified date in 2020. The shifts are a major blow to the exhibition industry, which had pinned its hopes for a late summer revival on the one-two punch of “Tenet” and “Mulan.”
“Mulan,” which carries a $200 million price tag, will also be heavily reliant on China to turn a profit. But Chinese movie theaters are all currently closed as well, without a clear reopening date.
Directed by Niki Caro, “Mulan” stars Liu Yifei as a fearless Chinese warrior who disguises herself as a man to spare her elderly father from having to serve in the military. Due to sequences of violence, it’s the first of Disney’s live-action remakes to score a PG-13 rating.
Source: Read Full Article