March 9, 2020 (Hollywood)
September 4, 2020 (United States)
Mulan is a 2020 American fantasy adventure drama film produced by Walt Disney Pictures. It is a live-action adaptation of Disney's 1998 animated film of the same name, itself based on the Chinese folklore story, "The Ballad of Mulan". The film stars Yifei Liu in the title role, alongside Donnie Yen, Tzi Ma, Jason Scott Lee, Yoson An, Ron Yuan, Gong Li, and Jet Li in supporting roles. It is directed by Niki Caro, with a screenplay by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Lauren Hynek, and Elizabeth Martin. Plans for a live-action remake began in 2010 but the project stalled in "development hell" for most of the decade. Filming took place in New Zealand and China from August to November 2018. Over the course of production, the film was the subject of several controversies, including changes to the source material and filming in Xinjiang in light of the Uyghur genocide and Xinjiang re-education camps.
Mulan's Hollywood premiere was held on March 9, 2020. Originally scheduled to be a wide theatrical release later that month, it was ultimately canceled in the United States after being delayed multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Disney instead premiered the film on September 4, 2020 on Disney+ for a premium fee in countries where the service had launched. The film had a traditional theatrical release in countries without Disney+ where theaters have re-opened. Due to limited theatrical release as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the film grossed only $70 million, not including digital earnings from Disney+. The film received generally positive reviews from Western critics, who praised the action sequences, visuals, and performances but criticized the screenplay. It received unfavorable reviews from Chinese critics and audiences, who criticized the character development and its cultural and historical inaccuracies.
