Coronavirus is a growing concern all over the world and now it’s effecting entertainment even more. Disney’s Mulan will now have to look for a new release date in China after some concerns about the virus led decision-makers to scuttle the March release date there. Things will still go on as planned in most other territories, but this follows theaters and other gathering places shutting down. Disneyland in Hong Kong has closed its doors as the worry increased about the spread of disease. It has spread all over different regions as governments try to deal with the outbreaks that they see in their own countries.
Former Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC about the possibility of this earlier this month. “At this point, our parks in Shanghai and Hong Kong are shut down. We don’t know for how long. Without knowing for how long, it’s difficult to tell…This is something that’s a big concern to us. We have thousands of people that work for us in that area of the world. We have concerns for them, we have concerns for the world and the people of China, of course.”
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“All of the movie companies that are expecting to distribute movies coming up in China, obviously are impacted by this,” he continued. “Again, it is hard to tell. We have a release coming out in March, Mulan, which obviously would have been of great interest to China. It will eventually get into China, at this point, we’re not sure when. Obviously, the big issue on everybody’s mind and everyone’s concern is what’s going on with this virus. And how far will it go in terms of its impact on people.”
Also of note is that this will definitely impact the take of this film. Previous reports indicate that Mulan was very expensive to film. The estimated price tag was about $290 million and sources claimed that the sets were of an “unprecedented scale.” For reference, Avengers: Infinity War cost the studio nearly $300 million. So, we’re talking about a massive investment from the company that was probably counting on a very strong performance in that market. Millennial nostalgia is still the name of the game, and many will flock to theaters to see the live-action version of a hit from their childhood. But, things continue to get murkier on both the entertainment and world health fronts with each passing day.
