Mulan: early reports suggest big take up for the film

It looks as if Disney’s decision to pretty much skip cinemas for its release of Mulan has paid off financially, according to a new report. As you more than likely know by now, Disney elected to bypass cinemas in most places around the world for the release of its live action take on Mulan. Instead, it has made the film available as a ‘premiere access’ release on its Disney+ platform, where subscribers must pay an extra £19.99 in the UK and $29.99 in the US if they want to see the film early. Cinemas in the UK, we understand, were amongst those furious at the move, given that no prints have been made available for booking for this who still wanted to see the film on the big screen. But Disney isn’t likely to be too bothered about that. According to a new report at Yahoo, the company has a hit on its hands. The estimate is that 29% of households subscribed to Disney+ in the US have stumped up the extra charge in the film’s first week of release. And that suggests that the company has brought in around $260m for the film so far, an estimate that’s said to be on the cautious side. Given that it’s pretty much pure profit – there are no cuts to be paid to cinema owners, for instance – that’s unlikely to be a result Disney will grumble over. Furthermore, the fear now is that Disney will see that as an increasingly viable option for its big movies. Will it continue to support cinemas fully when they return to a semblance of proper business? Disney it should be noted hasn’t stumped up the numbers itself, and it’s unlikely to do so. Mulan will be available to regular Disney+ subscribers from December. Yahoo ———— Thank you for visiting! We are fundraising to keep our magazines going into 2021 – could you please support us or spread the word: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/filmstories2021/film-stories-and-film-stories-jr-2021-independent-magazines Or become a Patron here. Sign up for our email newsletter here. Follow Film Stories on Twitter here, and on Facebook here. Buy our Film Stories and Film Stories Junior print magazines here.