Mulan for $29.99
Tuesday, August 4, 2020 at 10:17PM by Nathaniel R
The Mouse House is tired of waiting for movie theaters to open. They've announced that Mulan will be going direct to Disney+ for Labor Day Weekend. It will also be in movie theaters that weekend in some regions. The catch is that it won't be free on the streaming service that you already pay for. It will cost $29.99 to watch (for an undisclosed length of time). This is bad news for those of us who love to go to movies and watch epic things on big screens in dark cavernous rooms with strangers and hate the motion smoothing on modern televisions. It's good news for parents (at least at this shut-in moment in history) who would likely spend more than $30 to take their kids out to this movie in a normal year.
Given that Mulan cost hundreds of millions to make and Disney's "event" movies normally make $1 billion plus at the theatrical box office globally they'll need a lot of $29.99 purchases to reach that number. What do you make of this news? End times (as some exhibitors think) or just a minor shifting of the sands?
Disney, Disney Plus, Mulan, box office, moviegoing, streaming
Reader Comments (36)
Do you turn the motion smoothing function off, Nathaniel?
I think they will still make a pretty penny with this decision.
I definitely understand the decision, but I don't have to like it. It's likely the right call for the studio and definitely an amazing deal for families. I'm just a little disappointed that this epic film starring mostly Asian actors and directed by a woman is relegated behind a paywall of a streamer. They say this is an anomaly, but is it...? We'll see.
if i were a parent i'd be strongly suggesting to my offspring that the animated version can't be beat
Wouldn't pay that in a million years, especially not for some regurgitated corporate drivel from Disney.
Also - you known you can turn off the "motion smoothing," right? I assume you do and have not gone this whole time avoiding watching films on your TV!
Wait a minute, so for anyone who already paid for Disney + for let's say a year. They have to pay an extra $30 to see Mulan?
Oh fuck that shit.
I’m the target audience here (parent, sentimental about Disney movies, etc), but I’m balking at the fee. Frankly, I’m not worried about Disney losing money (God, it has enough), but I would hate for *this* rare movie about an ass-kicking woman of color to be remembered as a lemon.
I dunno, but at that price I'm going to sit out. As much as I like films that celebrate Chinese culture, I'm not going to spend that much more on top of a streaming service I already pay for.
I hope it bombs and will convince Disney to stop making these live-action remakes.
I can't imagine the movie biz being able to survive spending 200 million dollars on an event movie and have it essentially just streamed. I could be wrong but even under these circumstances, I question have many people are really gonna spend THIRTY DOLLARS to watch one movie at home.
Luke and Jonathan -- we have tried everything we can think of to stop the motion smoothing. Following all the online instructions (though each tv appears to call it different things) It seems to still be in effect for some movies and not others. Newer films -- particularly on Disney+ -- appear to still be motion smoothed. For instance, I couldn't watch ONWARD without it looking like crap which was sad for me since Pixar titles are usually so pretty.
Dusty -- but if parents were willing to spend 30-50 to take their families to the lion king in cinemas which they'd already seen in a better form, why wouldn't they spend $30 on Mulan to keep the kids entertained? I wish people would balk at paying this but I dont think they will. .
Nathaniel, not sure what TV you have or what sort of inputs are in play, but I know when I got Disney+ I had to essentially re-set all the settings I painstakingly already set for my other inputs. For some reason whatever input or "channel" Disney+ was on my Smart TV, all the settings were set to default again so I had to remove motion smoothing, etc. Maybe you have to do that?
30 dollars for watching Mulan ONCE? Let me get it straight... insane. I am not paying 30 € - surely they will just change the currency but not the amount - for watching a movie once, when for that price I can go buy the bluray or 4K of the same film to own it, barely 6 months later. I think it is completely unacceptable, the tag price... if it was 5 to 10, kind of yes, for a rental. But 30 dollars, and then if you like it, another 30 dollars to actually buy the film? Abuse
Yes, surely there's a way to turn off the motion smoothing, even for Disney+. I don't gave Disney+, otherwise I'd go through the settings to see.
Motion smoothing on TV is horrendous and I hate to think that people suffer with it.
I'm curious if they'll stick with $29.99 or if they'll drop it to $19.99 to see if that plays out better.
You're not paying 30 dollars for a one time viewing experience. It is permanent as long as you hold onto your subscription.
$30 makes sense to me. Amazon charged $20 for movies that had either already been released for a while (Invisible Man, etc.), or had much smaller budgets, or even near indies (The Hunt, etc.). Mulan is a major tentpole film that no one has seen, and has made no profit yet. And complaining about the $6.99 you already pay for a service with a library that deep AND already gave away Hamilton at no extra cost seems silly.
Large companies are adjusting to the current climate as much as the rest of us.
I already wanted to boycott the film because of Liu Yifei's enthusiastic support of the Beijing crackdown in Hong Kong. This only makes it easier. Thank you Disney!
Understand it.
Don't like it.
Will be supporting API representation with an opening weekend watch.
I would imagine a family would pay this, particularly if it came with a BluRay "souvenir" version of the movie. I also think it will be more than once, probably for the entire Labor Day weekend? It makes financial sense for families or groups of people, but not for singles or even couples really.
I would've seen this in a theater if reviews were ok, and would not have blinked at paying $15 (or $30 for me and hubby) for the experience of SEEING IT IN A THEATER. But I'm sure as shit not paying that amount to see it at home.
I mean, I wouldn't even cough up $20 for FIRST COW, a movie I wanted to see much more than Mulan and was going to see in a theater just when the pandemic broke out, but waited till the price lowered. I guess Disney will hold out longer, but hell, I can wait.
Of course the calculus, as others have pointed out, is likely different for families with children. But it will be interesting to see if it "works." I have no idea if it will.
Yeah...no. That price is a deal-breaker for me. I understand the WHY of it all, but I'm not paying that for a one-time VOD viewing experience. I've spent more than that on deluxe edition physical media releases, but guess what I can do with those that I can't do with this release?
30 dollars makes sense given the market they're going after - suburban parents. This is a discount for those families and I imagine disney pockets the entire 30 dollars, rather than having to split it with the theatre.
I'll be honest, I grew up with all of these films originally and I've had no desire to watch any of them as a childless adult. It seems like Disney has always marketed these films to millennial and gen-xers with kids, so the 30 dollar price tag is fine.
I've never been super sensitive about movie ticket prices.
Where/when I grew up, minimum wage was about $7.50 and movie tickets were $8. Where I live now, minimum wage is $15 and standard movie tickets are about $17. I know wages are lower elsewhere but I believe ticket prices are lower elsewhere, too. All my moviegoing life the price of candy/popcorn has been outrageous.
(I don't go see IMAX/3D movies so don't @ me on those.)
Today it feels like you have distributors trying to jack prices up, and consumers who expect everything to be dirt cheap or lumped into a monthly subscription. Both of those instincts are bad I think.
It's going to be a huge success.
Disney's stock jumped almost 10% pretty much instantly after the announcement of MULAN to Disney+. That has to mean something.
Even if I wanted to see this movie (and I don't because I'm tired of Disney remaking every animated movie of theirs), I don't like the precedent that's it's setting. Not for families getting too comfortable not returning to movie theaters. Families can also purchase the DVD for 1/2 the suggested streaming price.
$30.00 seems a lot for this they will reduce is to $19,99
Disney would never have done this if the movie starred one of those pasty white girls.
There is no way in hell I'm going to pay $30 to see yet another Disney rehash "event".
F*** no.
Mulan actress: I fully support Hong Kong police brutality. This is not the racial representation we need. She is Asian. She is also a totalitarianism puppet.
I hope this bombs.
Disney, a soulless corporation.
Mulan, another remake of a movie that already existed and was good as it was.
Lead actress, she is Asian so I guess we should be happy for the diversity? But how about the fact that she is a totalitarian supporter? Is that to be ignored? It's more important to be valued for being a minority than to be criticized for supporting a dictatorship?
The sheer lack of support for representation in this thread is very telling.... yeah Disney is “evil”, but should we be wishing that a big budget movie with a primary Asian cast led by a female person of colour “bomb” and “fail”.
$30 to stream something that isn't worth $30 and I can find on the internet for free???
PRICELESS.
:D
For real tho... maybe I'd pay that for a film that actually needed to be made and caught my interest, but this movie does neither of those things tbh.
Thank you ken s and Sam
Her statement supporting the police brutality in HK has gone under the radar in North America and it doesn’t sit well with me, especially in light of the recent progress in the BLM movement. Granted her statement came out before that, it’s still disturbing for anyone to support police brutality.
Hard pass for me. This is super expensive and discriminatory against single people, let alone contributing to the death of the movie theater.
No senior discount? Harumph!