Due to the devastating effects of the coronavirus outbreak in China, many industries are shutting down, but Disney intends to move forward with the release of its highly anticipated Mulan live-action film.
As of now, the coronavirus has afflicted more than 30,000 people and resulted in the deaths of 724 in 28 territories across the world. Currently, the city of Wuhan, which was the source of the outbreak, and many other cities in China are under lockdown. As such, the streets are empty and many businesses are shutting down until things get back to their normal state. Theaters have also closed down, causing a huge decline in revenue for the film industry.
So, it stands to reason that many studios are currently rethinking their plans for the Chinese market, but it would appear that the Mouse House isn’t going to delay the release of one of its biggest live-action adaptations. Mulan, which under normal circumstances, would perform quite well in China, is still set for release on March 27th and the new Super Bowl trailer confirmed our suspicions that Disney isn’t planning to change the movie’s release schedule.
Here’s the catch, though; if the theaters aren’t reopened by the time Mulan premieres worldwide, then Disney will have two options. They can either delay the entire release, or wait and show the film in China when things have settled down. It looks as though the distributor is choosing the former and hopes that it won’t jeopardize the pic’s box office performance.
Considering the fact that Mulan cost a mind-boggling $300 million to make, Disney has a lot riding on this premiere and if the movie underperforms, the implications could be disastrous. That being said, we recently learned that the company is already planning to develop a sequel to Mulan, so it would seem that the creators behind it are certain about the movie’s success.