592 Days Til "Mulan"

Production has begun on Disney's live action adaptation of Mulan starring Liu Yifei (pictured below) whose 31st birthday is in just two weeks time. So happy birthday to her as she hits the global stage. 

Curiously Disney says they conducted a 'year long search' for the lead as if they were going with an unknown but Liu Yifei has been a busy actor for over ten years now, first breaking out in Forbidden Kingdom (2008) starring Jackie Chan...

If you want to get a sense of her, her most recent leading lady gig Once Upon a Time (2017), a fantasy picture about past lives, is currently available to rent on Amazon.

Speaking of Asian celebrities, Disney has gone all out with the names. They've enlisted three bonafide superstars Gong Li, Jet Li, and Donnie Yen as well as wuxia legend Cheng Pei-Pei (Come Drink With Me and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) in supporting roles.  They've even thrown in our 1990s megacrush Jason Scott Lee of Jungle Book, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, and Lilo & Stitch fame! Isn't it a missed opportunity that they didn't give Ming-Na Wen, the original voice of Mulan and one of the most famous Chinese-American actors, a supporting role though?

The eternally exquisite Gong Li at Cannes this summer

To recap. Disney's universe domination via constant regurgitation and rebranding of old animated classics into new live action or CGI hybrid movies is going swimmingly for the company ...if not always for the quality of cinema.

SO FAR

• Cinderella (2015) global gross: 543 million; Oscar result: 1 nomination for costumes
• The Jungle Book (2016) global gross: 966 million; Oscar result: 1 nomination/win for visual effects
• Beauty and the Beast (2017) global gross: 1.2 billion; Oscar result: 2 nominations for costumes and production design

UP NEXT

• Dumbo, March 29th, 2019 (completed)
• Aladdin, May 24th, 2019 (currently in post-production)
• The Lion King, July 19th, 2019 (currently filming)
• Mulan, March 27th, 2020 (production began today)
• The Little Mermaid, TBA (announced)

So 2019 they'll really be testing the waters of how big a slice of the box office pie (the whole thing?) Disney can consume from a single year with 3 potential blockbuster remakes of animated features PLUS their usual new stuff (Toy Story 4) and their usual Marvel stuff (Captain Marvel, Avengers 4, and Spider-Man Far From Home) all within a 5 month period from March through July. Then Frozen 2 and Star Wars Episode IX in the winter (along with their own ABC devised specially created Oscar category to honor all of them -- UGH)

Comments

[shawshank]

Does Pete's Dragon and Eyesore in Wonderland not count?

[Sonja]

Or Maleficent?
I know it's not directly Sleeping Beauty, but an interesting take on it.

Mulan is one of my favorite Disney animated features, so I'm still excited, even though I wasn't blown away by the live action version of Cinderella, my absolute favorite Disney animated movie.

[NATHANIEL R]

shawshank -- i totally forgot about that but i don't think they were from disney's recent corporate initative to do this which started (as a plan) with Cinderella if i'm not mistaken.

[Mareko]

By unknown, perhaps Disney means "unknown to ignorant, provincial studio execs."

Thank God Li Gong is back! A career as extraordinary as hers can't end with a Rob Marshall misfire and a cheesy remake of a subpar romcom like What Women Want.

Releasing three live-action film versions of animated classics within little more than a three-month window seems awfully foolhardy, but Disney just can't help itself I guess. Hope this one succeeds at least for the sake of better/more Asian storytelling and representation.

[Mareko]

Is the Cruella de Vil movie still in the works, or has that fallen by the wayside?

[Pam]

Yay, yay, yay. My favorite Disney girl.

[TOM]

When Disney runs out of ideas, we’ll be getting a live-action The Great Mouse Detective, Oliver & Friends and The Fox and the Hound...

[The Jack]

Wow, I had no idea they were releasing their live-action remakes so quickly. "Aladdin" and "The Lion King" within two months of each other? This reeks of lack of foresight. Let's be generous and assume that the rest of these remakes will include:

"Snow White" (again)
"Pinocchio"
"Bambi"
"Peter Pan" (again)
"Lady And The Tramp"
"Sleeping Beauty"
"101 Dalmatians" (again)
"The Sword In The Stone"
"The Rescuers"
"Pocahontas"
"The Hunchback Of Notre Dame"
"Hercules"
"Tarzan" (again)

Releasing three a year, they'll have burned through all these by 2025.

[Morgan (the 1st)]

David Lowery's Peter Pan us in pre-production right now. It'll be filmed before The Little Mermaid.

[Ann]

To recap. Disney's universe domination

[Morgan (the 1st)]

Goddamn. They announced Lady and the Tramp today with Tessa Thompson, Justin Theroux, Ashley Jensen and Kiersy Clemons.