Disney’s live-action movie "Mulan" announced the ultimate trailer for the Super Bowl last weekend, which has become one of the biggest highlights in the Super Bowl advertisement. From the current point of view, this movie is very expected to become another popular Disney movie, but in China, one of Disney's most important and most anticipated markets, "Mulan" is facing an unexpected "headwind".
Since the end of January this year, a large-scale outbreak of new-type pneumonia has occurred in mainland China. As of today, the number of confirmed infections has exceeded 34,000, and the number of suspected cases has exceeded 27,000. And so far, it has been targeted. There is no cure for this new type of pneumonia. In order to avoid the contagion caused by crowds, the Chinese Spring Festival movies are not only withdrawn collectively, and all movie theaters have been temporarily closed.
In addition to Chinese local movies, many Hollywood movies that were originally scheduled to be released in mainland China in February, such as "Little Women", "Jojo Rabbit" and "Marriage Story", which were nominated for Oscar for Best Picture, are also due to this The epidemic situation has changed files and postponed one after another. It can be said that the spread of the new type of pneumonia in mainland China has caused a series of problems in the distribution of Chinese local movies and many Hollywood movies.
As for Disney's "Mulan", although the movie's release date is March 27 this year, if the novel pneumonia epidemic does not completely disappear, I am afraid that movie theaters in mainland China will not be opened. Moreover, Chinese audiences who have just gone through village and road closures or even "city closures" due to this epidemic may not risk being infected and pay to go to the theater to watch this Disney movie.
"Mulan" is adapted from an ancient Chinese legend. It tells the story of Hua Mulan who joined the army on behalf of her father. The film starring Chinese actress Liu Yifei. In addition, Chinese celebrities such as Gong Li, Jet Li, and Donnie Yen also have a lot of roles in the film. Although it is not a Sino-US co-production, there is no doubt that Chinese fans will be one of the main audience groups for this "Mulan".
therefore, in the view of Variety Magazine, if mainland China cannot become part of the simultaneous global distribution of "Mulan", it will be very disappointing for Disney.
Currently, Disney is faced with two choices-either postpone the global simultaneous release of "Mulan" until after China's new pneumonia epidemic is completely over, but no one knows where this time point is, and Disney must restart the movie. Or, Disney can postpone the movie’s release date in China until after the end of the new pneumonia epidemic, and the rest of the world will indeed release it according to the original schedule.
However, if the release of "Mulan" is postponed in mainland China, then Disney will risk that the pirated video of this movie will be leaked on the Internet. Once Chinese fans have seen the pirated version on the Internet, even if the version is not clear , Then their enthusiasm for going to the theater to watch this movie will fade a lot, and the ticket revenue of "Mulan" in China will undoubtedly be greatly affected.
According to "Variety" magazine, the production cost of "Mulan" alone is as high as US$200 million, excluding marketing and advertising expenses. The film is already the most expensive non-licensed series in history. Although the director of the film is New Zealand director Nikki Caro, and the film’s dialogue is mainly in English, Disney is still very much looking forward to the film’s box office performance in the Chinese mainland market. If the film is caused by the new pneumonia epidemic In the end, the box office income in the Chinese market is pitiful, so Disney is probably about to cry.
(text/dudu)
