6 Years Ago, A Controversial Live-Action Disney Remake Skipped Cinemas & Made Theaters Very Angry

The history of Disney and its live-action remakes has been a mixed bag. In some cases, fans are excited to see a new take on a tried-and-true story, especially when it does something completely different from what we already knew, as was the case with Cruella being a fresh look at 101 Dalmatians. However, there are more instances of these new versions receiving far less favorable reviews than the animated originals, like with The Lion King, Moana, Snow White, and Peter Pan & Wendy, just to name a few. Most of those movies still made a lot of money, so theaters look forward to their release as they tend to bring in the big bucks. One of these intriguing live-action remakes was slated to arrive in cinemas in 2020, yet the COVID-19 pandemic impacted a ton of films that year. Rather than push back this particular remake, Disney opted for something that upset theater chains.

This live-action remake was Mulan, which had the potential to be a big blockbuster hit. The pandemic meant that couldn’t happen, and what Disney ended up doing only made matters worse.

The Mulan Remake Coming To Disney+ Angered Movie Theaters

The official release date for 2020’s Mulan was September 4. By that point in the year, most movie theaters had opened back up, meaning there was a chance for it to make some money. Granted, there wasn’t a single film that dominated the box office after the pandemic began, with nothing surpassing $500,000 worldwide. That’s why cinema chains wanted everything to come out who possibly could have, as they were losing money throughout the year. A lot of the biggest potential releases were pushed back a year, like Black Widow, Dune, Godzilla vs. Kong, and F9: The Fast Saga.

Instead of delaying Mulan, Disney opted to release it in September, yet instead of a theatrical run, it was available for Disney+ subscribers for an additional $29.99 in the United States. It only truly hit theaters in some other countries. The Disney+ move was considered “premier access,” and theater chains were very unhappy. People already weren’t flocking to cinemas anyway, and releasing it directly at home for the American public hurt those theater numbers even more.

Despite the theatrical run around the world, the box office showed how much of a problem that was. The 1998 original grossed over $300 million and has only become more beloved in the years since, so this new take could’ve been massive. Instead, Mulan grossed a paltry $69 million. Theater operators around the globe considered this move by Disney a betrayal, as Disney would keep all the revenue from premier access, while theaters received nothing.

One cinema owner in France went as far as to destroy an ad for Mulan with a cricket bat in a clip that went viral. Unlike the countries that were still allowed a theatrical window, Mulan was released at no extra cost to Disney+ subscribers in France, which explains the theater owner’s frustration and anger. He had been promoting Mulan for months and hoped it would be a pivotal film to boost their struggling profits.

Other groups pointed out that Disney was playing with fire by doing away with exclusive theatrical runs just as theaters were trying to recover from the financial problems caused by the pandemic. Disney claimed that the move was made due to the emergency of the world and that it wasn’t an indicator of a long-term change, though that wasn’t totally true.

Mulan Started A COVID Era Trend For Disney

Despite Mulan not bringing in a ton of money at the box office, Disney continued to put out films under the premier access concept. They did this with Raya and the Last Dragon, Cruella, Black Widow, and Jungle Cruise, all in 2021. While all of those films made more money than Mulan, they all underperformed relative to their big budgets. Theater chains were very upset with these choices, with AMC calling out Disney and Cinemark refusing to screen the animated film Raya and the Last Dragon.

Disney went even further with its Pixar releases during the pandemic. Onward had its box office hurt by COVID-19 hitting during its theatrical run. The next few Pixar releases were released straight to Disney+ and not even for the additional $29.99 price tag. Soul, Turning Red, and Luca were just added there, causing financial losses for Pixar and meaning theaters lost out on potential hits. Disney was prioritizing trying to increase Disney+ subscribers, which caused theater chains to further consider them an unreliable partner.

In the years since 2022, things seemed to have cooled off between Disney and theater chains. Premier access hasn’t been a thing since then, and Disney has put out several major hits over the years, including other live-action remakes. Still, the release strategy for 2020’s Mulan marked the start of some major problems in Hollywood.

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