Article | Shen Lin
local time on August 4, the Walt Disney Company announced that it would cancel the release of " Hua Mulan " in some regional theaters, and change it to launch on September 4, including the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, etc. Open the market for Disney+ services. The decision of
to abandon the North American cinema chain, which cost up to 200 million US dollars to produce, is undoubtedly historic. Disney responded that this is a helpless move from the epidemic and will not become the norm in Disney films.
And this news made Disney's stock price rise 9.53% one hour after the opening on August 5, US time. However, the feedback from the audience is not so optimistic...
ultra-high pricing to repel 85% of the audience
Disney+ subscription price in North America is 6.99 US dollars per month, if you want to watch "Mulan" you need to pay more US$29.99, which is roughly equivalent to RMB 258 per ticket, which is about three times the average ticket price of North American movies. The super-high ticket price also makes "Mulan" the most expensive VOD (Digital On-Demand Service) film in history, which is much higher than the $19.99 of "Tangling 2". What's more cheating about
is that the $29.99 purchase is not a perpetual viewing right. According to the past distribution rules, viewers can only watch the movie once after purchasing it. A pause is allowed but the time limit is 48 hours to watch it. After watching it, it may exceed 48. Videos that have not been broadcast within hours will expire and will need to be purchased again.
Therefore, when voting on the Internet "whether you are willing to spend $29.99 to watch "Mulan" online", 85% of the more than 90,000 users who participated in the vote chose "not willing". In addition to the price higher than the theater line that makes the audience unable to pick up, some netizens pointed out that the ticket price of the cinema not only buys the movie, but also the service of the cinema. The immersive experience brought by the large screen, sound effects, and comfortable chairs in the movie theater is different from simply watching a movie on a streaming media platform.
However, for Disney, the great success of cartoons is their confidence to operate in this way. After the release of "Mulan" in 1998, as Disney's first Chinese princess, she received a huge welcome-the production cost of 90 million US dollars finally won the global box office of more than 300 million US dollars, and also won the Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. It left a strong mark in the hearts of the audience. The adaptation of
’s live-action movie has also gained the attention of the global film market. In Disney’s view, as long as 7 million people purchase the service for a movie with such a high degree of attention, they will pay back, and the rest is pure For profit, the higher the price, the better.
What's more, because of the epidemic, Disney has been greatly affected. Its announced revenue for the third fiscal quarter of 2020 was US$11.779 billion, down 41.8% from US$20.262 billion in the same period last year; net loss was US$4.718 billion, and net profit in the same period last year was US$1.430 billion.
Disney said that the epidemic caused its parks, experience, and product divisions to lose approximately US$3.5 billion in revenue in the third fiscal quarter. The main reason for the decrease was the closure of theme parks due to the epidemic.
Previously, Disney scheduled the North American screening of "Mulan" on March 27, and even the premiere was done. However, due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, the schedule had to be postponed and changed to July 24. Changed to August 21, announced the withdrawal at the end of last month, and now announced the online streaming. I also hope that "Mulan" can restore some vitality for it.
In fact, using "Mulan" to drain your own Disney+ is also one of Disney's considerations. As the only business segment whose revenue rose year-on-year in the third quarter, Disney's CEO publicly commented that Disney+ had achieved "incredible success." Since its official launch in November 2019, with the success of the movie version of the musical "Hamilton", the current number of Disney+ subscribers has reached 60.5 million, and the goal of increasing the number of subscribers to 60 million by 2024 has been achieved four years in advance.
The high ticket prices of "Mulan" will still bring in a number of new subscribers. "Even if only 10% of the 60.5 million subscribers watch "Mulan", the income it brings to Disney is US$180 million. Together with the film’s box office revenue in other countries and regions, it will not cause a loss in the end, and may even bring To make a profit."
has been involved in the controversy of insulting China. Will Chinese audiences pay for "Mulan"?
"Mulan" is a big IP in traditional Chinese stories. When Disney wanted to make a live-action movie, most of the actresses in China had signed up for auditions, and Liu Yifei was eventually selected.
Liu Yifei overlaps with Mulan in the 1998 cartoon. The liveliness is drawn in the painting. In addition, Gong Li, Jet Li, Zheng Peipei and other familiar faces of Chinese audiences appear in the film. It is undeniable that Chinese audiences are very interested in this film. Have great expectations.
However, the success of the actor selection does not mean the same is true for the film. After the trailer for "Mulan" was released last year, the domestic market was declining. Because the clips intercepted inside are more like the one-sided and grandiose understanding of China in the West. In particular, the emperor played by Jet Li is almost exactly the same as the classic insulting image of China, Fu Manzhou (not to mention that the editor is on the line, you don’t see his beauty. Now even the old film "Gone with the Wind" 100 years ago is because the black movement involves political correctness. It's off the shelves, let alone the new films of the past two years, the discrimination of Asians is not discrimination?).
The role of Fu Manchu is the villain in the "Fu Manchu" series of novels written by British novelist Sax Romer at the beginning of the last century. It first appeared in "The Mystery of Fu Manchu" in 1913. His tall stature, yellow skin, squinted eyes, and the iconic raised eyebrows and drooping beard are regarded as a typical Manchu official image. Fu Manchu was born from the "yellow peril theory" of hatred and fear of the yellow race in Europe, so it has become a visual symbol of the West's fear of China. After the American movie "The Drum of Fu Manchu" was released in 1940, Fu Manchu's "evil image" became more widespread.
Last year, Marvel Pictures prepared to shoot the movie "Shangqi" with Chinese heroes as the protagonist. The villain character "Manchuria" played by actor Tony Leung was accused of being created based on Fu Manchu as a racist culture. Symbol, many netizens believe that it hurt the feelings of the Chinese people, and even Tony Leung received a lot of criticism.
The image of the emperor played by Jet Li in "Mulan" is also true. In historical reality, the emperors of the Southern and Northern Dynasties would not wear this kind of black warm hat. In the cartoon, the image of the emperor is even more gentle and elegant. It would be a Qing dynasty male costume with a treacherous look in the stills.
In addition to obviously mixed with the private goods of the main creative staff, the "mirror applique yellow" in Mulan's poems is actually shown in the film directly to turn the face makeup into yellow palace makeup. Entering the Tulou in Fujian also makes people laugh and generous. What's more, from the timeline, Fujian Tulou was built in the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, which is far from the time when Hua Mulan was located. No wonder netizens commented: Disney's "Mulan" is "non-Chinese, foreign, and eccentric", which insults Chinese culture.
Earlier, shortly after domestic theaters resumed operations, there was news that the movie "Mulan", originally scheduled to be released on August 21, was deleted from the schedule by Disney.
Disney said that "Mulan" will be launched on the Disney streaming platform Disney+ on September 4, and in countries and regions where Disney+ cannot be used and theaters have resumed, it will be released in theaters on the same day. However, the Shanghai Publishing and Projection Association told the media that there is no clear news that the film will be released in China on September 4.
"Mulan" used many Chinese actors. It is conceivable that they wanted to please the Chinese audience, but the main creators did not do their homework. They were neither close to the real Chinese culture, nor did they restore the cartoons, and even mixed some privates. Goods, coincides with the impact of the epidemic, which caused this movie to abandon the North American theaters, but even if it is released in China as desired, will there be Chinese audiences willing to pay?
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