Every reporter: Bi Yuanyuan, Wen Menghua Every editor: Dong Xingsheng
After nearly two years of publicity, the "Mulan" edited by Disney will finally meet Chinese audiences on September 11, based on traditional Chinese stories.
However, after Disney+ went live on September 4, "Mulan" did not appear to have an imaginary "explosive" trend, but instead collapsed across the board in China.
As of the evening of September 7, Douban scores show that 50,000 viewers have scored 4.8 points, of which 19.7% of the viewers scored one star and 36.8% of the audience scored two stars. Not only that, before the official release, domestic "pirated resources" have been flying all over the world, which will cause unexpected losses to the box office of "Mulan".
"Mulan" poster Image source: Cat's Eye Professional Edition
"Mulan" is of course special to the Chinese market, but the performance of Disney's live-action movies in China over the past 10 years can only be said to be unsatisfactory. According to statistics from the Daily Economic News reporter, in the past 10 years, Disney has had at least 12 live-action movies released in China, with a total box office of 4.738 billion yuan, which only barely exceeds the box office of one "Avengers 4: Endgame" in China.
is the strongest in North America. After "Mulan" has undergone several file changes, Disney directly abandoned its plan to be shown online in theaters and launched directly on its own streaming media platform Disney+ from September 4th.
Of course, this is Disney's compelling self-help. On August 4, Disney announced the third quarter fiscal 2020 financial report. As of June 27, 2020, Disney’s revenue for the third quarter of 2020 was US$11.779 billion, a decrease of 41.8% from US$20.262 billion in the same period last year; net loss It was US$4.718 billion, and the net profit of the same period last year was US$1.430 billion.
Douban score 4.8 "Mulan" has collapsed before its release.
Following the release of "Yu Hundred" and "Creed", the Disney blockbuster "Mulan" will be finalized in mainland China on September 11.
is one of the highly anticipated films starring Liu Yifei, Donnie Yen, Gong Li and Jet Li. Prior to this, the film had been withdrawn worldwide due to various reasons, resulting in a delay in the release time. Nowadays, after choosing to play online in the United States, the domestic fixed time has finally "began to come out after a long call."
starring Jet Li and Donnie Yen Image source: Cat's Eye Professional Edition
On September 7, Liu Yifei posted a long article in English on Twitter, looking back at her participation in the film "Mulan": As an actor, this experience is the most for me Good encouragement. It is my dream that made me come here. I still remember when I auditioned in Los Angeles a few years ago, I couldn't even imagine how excited I would be if I succeeded, but I did.
It is understood that "Mulan" is one of the most expensive movies in Hollywood this year. After the United States chose to move to the front line, it is not difficult to see the domestic market set-up this time, and the film producers have high hopes for the Chinese market. As the world's second-largest ticket warehouse, the success of the Chinese market will largely determine how much this ill-fated film can ultimately make.
Whenever reporters noticed, after "Mulan" officially launched on Disney's streaming media platform "Disney+" on September 4, many viewers have already "sniffed" through streaming media or rampant pirated resources. Although the media freshness of Rotten Tomatoes in "Mulan" was 78% as of press time, domestic audiences obviously did not buy it, and the film suffered a word of mouth crisis on Douban before it was released.
As of September 7, Douban scores show that 50,000 viewers have scored a score of 4.8 points, of which 19.7% of the audience scored one star and 36.8% of the audience scored two stars. Image source of
: Screenshot of Douban scores.
When looking through Douban comments in the scriptures, we find that most of the complaints of netizens are focused on embarrassing plots and embarrassing acting skills. "The real scene and the special effects are too different. The music is forcibly sensational, and the sound and picture are separated. The plot lacks foreshadowing, and all the work should be done on the surface." "When does Mulan have super powers...the plot is awkward, the lines are awkward, and the disappointment I don't understand Disney's operation." Some netizens commented. As a classic IP in traditional Chinese culture,
itself has a certain risk of adaptation. After all, everyone has a "Mulan" in their hearts for this well-known classic character. Although Disney has certain experience and market accumulation in the field of live action moviesHowever, due to cultural differences, it is still difficult for foreign film teams to operate this traditional cultural IP with obvious cultural attributes to gain recognition from the Chinese.
This is not a good phenomenon for the unreleased "Mulan". The word-of-mouth crisis and the rampant piracy resources may affect its box office performance in the Chinese film market. As of the evening of September 7th, the Beacon Professional Edition showed that the number of people who wanted to watch "Mulan" was 1.11 million, of which 63.3% were women and 36.7% were men.
Disney's live-action movies are inconsistent in China
Disney is a giant in the film industry. Before the epidemic, Disney was firmly on the top of the 2019 Hollywood producer and distributor. According to the financial report, Disney's global box office in 2019 exceeded US$11 billion, an increase of 50% from the US$7.33 billion in 2018. Among the TOP20 films at the global box office in 2019, Disney produced 8 films, which is amazing.
Image source: every reporter drawing
In fact, for Disney, the highest grossing movie in 2019 is "Avengers 4: Endgame". There is no suspense, but the box office runner-up is an old IP movie adapted by real people "The Lion King." "The Lion King" won the North American box office of 540 million US dollars, the global box office of 1.65 billion US dollars, but the domestic box office was only 834 million yuan, only 23% of the North American box office, 7% of the global box office.
Disney’s live-action movies have always had the problem of "unacceptable" in the Chinese market. According to every reporter's statistics, in the past 10 years, Disney has released at least 12 live-action movies with a total box office of 4.738 billion yuan. The highest box office in China is " Fantasy Forest ", which was released in 2016, with nearly 1 billion yuan in box office. Since 2017, we have clearly seen Disney’s ambitions for the layout of live-action movies. In 2018, there were 2 live-action movies released, and 4 in 2019, but apart from "The Lion King", the rest can almost be summed up by "Push Street" .
"Lion King" poster Image source: Maoyan professional version
Some insiders once analyzed to reporters that animated films are still a "vulnerable group" in China and are not attractive enough to adult audiences. Even if they are adapted into real people, the pulling effect is limited.
live-action movies often have "public opinion" beyond the content of the film. Before "Mulan" was released, there had been huge waves about the nationality of the actors, the birthplace of the story, and whether the yellow people violated their English throughout the course.
In addition to "Mulan", "The Little Mermaid" decided that black actress Harley Bailey will play the heroine Ariel, which has been controversial since the beginning of the casting; "Aladdin" released in 2019, "Princess Jasmine" "The actor is Naomi Scott, who was dissatisfied with the audience because of her half-Indian descent. Since
is not satisfied in the Chinese market, it is obviously the most ideal choice to return to Disney's North American market. However, after several file changes, Disney said in early August that it had given up its plans to be shown online in North American theaters and will be launched directly on its own streaming media platform Disney+ from September 4th. In terms of viewing format, "Mulan" requires members to purchase it separately on demand, that is, in addition to the member's monthly payment of $6.99, watching "Mulan" requires an additional payment of $29.99.
"Mulan" poster Image source: Cat's Eye Professional Edition
According to foreign media, Disney confirmed that "Mulan" will be available for free to all Disney+ users on December 4. At the same time, D+ users who have not paid on-demand services will not be able to purchase movies to watch during the period from November 4th to December 4th.
Of course, this is Disney's compelling self-help. On August 4, Disney announced the third quarter fiscal 2020 financial report. As of June 27, 2020, Disney’s revenue for the third quarter of 2020 was US$11.779 billion, a decrease of 41.8% from US$20.262 billion in the same period last year; net loss It was US$4.718 billion, and the net profit of the same period last year was US$1.430 billion.
Daily Economic News
