Mulan Uses Shanghai Disneyland Castle in Disney Opener

Disney’s Mulan begins with an enchanting surprise by transforming the Walt Disney Pictures fantasy castle logo into Enchanted Storybook Castle, the centerpiece of Shanghai Disneyland Park. The live-action remake of Disney’s 1998 animated original, about eponymous Chinese warrior Hua Mulan (Yifei Liu), is the latest re-imagining to alter the modern Disney Pictures logo in use since 2006: Maleficent, Beauty and the Beast, and Lady and the Tramp are among the titles to open with a themed variant on Walt Disney World’s iconic Cinderella Castle. Recent Disney remakes — including The Jungle Book and the CG-animated The Lion King — open on a throwback logo that is cel-animated and hand-painted, featuring a castle inspired by the original Disneyland Park.

The nod to Disney’s Chinese theme park is one of several Easter eggs found in Mulan: though not a musical, the live-action version pays tribute to songs from the animated original with instrumental cues and lines of dialogue inspired by the 1998 soundtrack. “Honor to Us All,” “Reflection,” “A Girl Worth Fighting For,” and “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” are all referenced in the newest Mulan, characterized by director Niki Caro as an action-epic more grounded in realism.

Also starring Donnie Yen, Jason Scott Lee, Gong Li, Ron Yuan, Tzi Ma, Yoson An, and Jet Li, Mulan is now streaming exclusively on Disney+ Premier Access priced at $29.99.

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