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)