The new live-action remake of Mulan hit Disney+ on Friday and while the movie has a decent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, its audience score has fallen fairly low. Currently, the movie has a 79% score from critics, but only 55% from the general audience. While it could just be that people aren’t a fan of the movie, the lower score might be related to calls to boycott the film. In fact, #BoycottMulan was a trending topic on Twitter the day of the movie’s release. This is not the first time people have expressed these feelings over the Disney film. Fans were not happy last year when Liu Yifei (Mulan) showed support for the Hong Kong police, who have been accused of using excessive force against pro-democracy demonstrators.
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“I support the Hong Kong police. You can all attack me now. What a shame for Hong Kong,” Liu Yifei posted on Weibo last August. This post has not been forgotten by activists, who made #BoycottMulan trend on Friday.
“This film is released today. But because Disney kowtows to Beijing, and because Liu Yifei openly and proudly endorses police brutality in Hong Kong, I urge everyone who believes in human rights to #BoycottMulan,” activist Joshua Wong tweeted on Friday. The post has since gotten over 40,000 likes and 25,000 retweets. You can check it out below:
This film is released today. But because Disney kowtows to Beijing, and because Liu Yifei openly and proudly endorses police brutality in Hong Kong, I urge everyone who believes in human rights to #BoycottMulan. https://t.co/utmP1tIWNa
โ Joshua Wong ้ปไน้ ๐ท (@joshuawongcf) September 4, 2020
Mulan is a live-action remake of Disney’s 1998 animated movie, based on the Chinese folk tale of “The Ballad of Mulan.” The live-action film also stars Donnie Yen, Tzi Ma, Jason Scott Lee, Yoson An, Ron Yuan, Gong Li, and Jet Li. Niki Caro directed the film from a screenplay by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Lauren Hynek, and Elizabeth Martin.
ComicBook.com rated Mulan 4 out of 5 in its review, calling it the best of Disney’s live-action remakes. Charlie Ridgley wrote, “There’s an undeniable soul to Mulan that is as rooted in Chinese culture and folklore as it is in the animated movie we’ve all come to love. It’s truly the best of both worlds and I’m just disappointed I can’t see it in theaters.”
How do you feel about the Mulan boycott? Tell us in the comments.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Mulan is not seeing a theatrical release in North America and is instead available on Disney+ through Premier Access. It will release theatrically in some international markets.
