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mulan

01 Mar

Raya and the Last Dragon Review: The Best Disney Princess Movie Since Mulan

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If Raya and the Last Dragon proves anything, it’s that Disney is trying to tell a more modern “Disney Princess” story with their latest animated effort. Commercially, Disney’s transition into the 21st century has been a smooth one. While the shuttering of Disney theme parks in the last year due to the pandemic has cost the billions-dollar conglomerate money, Disney has many, many revenue streams, and the Disney brand remains strong. And much of that brand still relies on the studio’s signature Disney Princess movies, which have not had as seamless a narrative transition into modern storytelling as many fans…
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07 Dec

How Mulan Maintains The Animated Film’s Queerness

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This piece contains spoilers for Disney’s Mulan. Read our spoiler-free review here. More than any of the previous six Disney live-action remakes, Mulan requires the greatest narrative leap from fans of the animated original: The remake has done away with the iconic musical numbers, wisecracking dragon Mushu, and fan favorite Captain Li Shang, who is considered by many to be a bisexual icon for his clear attraction to both Ping (Mulan, pretending to be a man) and Mulan. Instead, perhaps in order to separate out the love interest from the potentially problematic power dynamic, Niki Caro’s 2020 adaptation, which now…
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01 Oct

The Boys and Mulan Bring Amazon and Disney+ into Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10

Netflix, New DVD release, , , , ,
Nielsen’s weekly streaming rankings may be a metric category that only started a mere month ago, but the latest report yields a potential bellwether indicator for its heretofore Netflix-dominated Top 10. Indeed, the September numbers for Amazon Prime Video second-season series The Boys and Disney+ premium feature Mulan have cracked a Netflix Nielsen bulwark. The company’s top 10 streaming programs for the week of August 31 to September 6 have arrived via THR, and an initial glance yields good news for Netflix, namely the August-arrived, YouTube-imported series, Cobra Kai, which has come from behind to nab the #1 spot with…
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17 Sep

Mulan: Disney Plus Grosses Exceed $200 Million? (Report)

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It seems industry whispers of Mulan’s financial demise have been greatly exaggerated. Only a handful of days after the film received negative headlines due to its weak opening in China, a new analytics report suggests the movie has been a bonafide hit on streaming service Disney+ in the U.S. The news comes from a report filed by analytics research firm 7Park Data. The company, which relies on AI-powered algorithms processing “raw, unstructured datasets,” reported Wednesday that between Sept. 4 and Sept. 12, Mulan was purchased by nearly 29 percent of Disney+ subscribers in the U.S. Beyond making this the most…
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15 Sep

Mulan: Disney Faces Congressional Scrutiny Over Chinese Production

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A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is asking Disney CEO Bob Chapek and Executive Chairman Robert Iger to explain the studio’s cooperation with the authorities in the Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang during the production of the Mulan live-action remake, according to NBC News. The Congressional letter is in response to allegations accusing Chinese authorities of detaining an estimated 1 million to 2 million Uighur Muslims, detained in mass internment camps in the Xinjiang region. The legislative interest comes after Disney thanked eight government bodies in Xinjiang, a Western province, in the film’s credits. “The closing credits of Mulan extend…
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14 Sep

Mulan Box Office Flops in China While Tenet Drops in US

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Disney and Warner Bros. both recently attempted to discover new routes to blockbuster success in a time of pandemic. Both have showcased how the path forward remains troublingly unclear. Hence the less-than-rosy numbers facing both Disney’s Mulan and Christopher Nolan’s Tenet after the second weekend of domestic release for each. In Mulan’s case, the film that was made specifically to appeal to a wider Chinese audience flopped at China’s box office this weekend. Grossing only $23.2 million over the past three days, Mulan fell well below the Chinese debut of other American blockbusters. By contrast Avengers: Endgame grossed an astounding…
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08 Sep

From Mulan to She’s The Man—A History of Gender-Bending Movies

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A young woman pretends to be a man, fearful of what could happen if her deception is found out, but willing to risk everything to keep her father safe. This dramatic tension at the heart of Mulan is both the story’s main draw and the narrative element that makes it one of the most feminist and fascinating stories Disney has ever told. As in so many other gender-bending movies, Mulan’s plan starts out straightforward enough: pretend to be a man in order to keep her father home and alive. It snowballs from there, as she must keep up with training,…
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06 Sep

Mulan 2020 vs. Mulan 1998: The Differences & Similarities

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This article contains spoilers for Disney’s MULAN. You can read our spoiler-free review of the film here. When Disney’s Mulan came out in 1998, American viewers had not yet seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), which was the first big wuxia hit film for American audiences. The animated feature takes its inspiration from a Chinese legend, but the film fits more into the traditional animated Disney Princess mold—and, with Eddie Murphy playing Mulan’s sidekick Mushu, the resulting film felt very American, despite its Chinese setting. Disney’s 2020 live-action film continues in the tradition of its other live-action remakes, but also leans into…
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06 Sep

Mulan: How Much Money Has the Disney Movie Made So Far?

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It might be a long time (if ever) until we truly find out how much money Disney’s new live-action adaptation of Mulan has made. While the $200 million film is being released in theaters in some countries—most notably, second largest box office in the world China—it has and will be released solely as a VOD title via Disney+ in many markets, including the United States, which, pre-pandemic, was the largest box office in the world. The theatrical-VOD hybrid release doesn’t mean that Mulan won’t make a lot of money for Disney via Disney+, just that Disney doesn’t actually have to…
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05 Sep

How Mulan’s Main Antagonist Almost Breaks the Disney Mold

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This article contains MAJOR spoilers for Disney’s Mulan. You can read our spoiler-free review of the film here. A recurring visual motif in Disney’s 1998 animated Mulan is the titular warrior staring at her own face, rendered unfamiliar by makeup and wondering at how to reconcile the image of that stranger with the truth of herself hiding inside. The film’s core “I Want” song, “Reflection,” articulates this ambivalence, this sense of carrying two selves, with lyrics like: who is that girl I see / staring straight back at me / why is my reflection someone I don’t know. The Mulan…
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05 Sep

Mulan’s 2020 Soundtrack & The Many Versions of Christina Aguilera’s Reflection

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Disney’s new live-action adaptation of Mulan might not be a movie musical, but that doesn’t mean it is without music. The Niki Caro-directed film, which dropped on Disney+ for “premium access” this weekend, has a score composed and conducted by Harry Gregson-Williams that makes up most of the official Mulan soundtrack. However, the film soundtrack also features two versions of “Reflection,” a tune made famous in America by Christina Aguilera for the soundtrack of the original 1998 animated feature. Twenty-two years later, Aguilera is singing another rendition of “Reflection” for the film’s soundtrack—one of two versions of the song that…
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05 Sep

Boycott Mulan: Why Pro-Democracy Activists Want You to Skip the Disney Movie

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A boycott is an organized campaign to starve a business of revenue in an attempt to influence how the business operates. As people in the U.S. recently learned (or were reminded) during the NBA strike in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a boycott is different from a strike, which is a refusal to work by employees as a strategy to pressure employers to meet certain demands. Both boycotts and strikes are important forms of organized political action. So what does this all have to do with Mulan, Disney’s new live-action adaptation of the Chinese legend? #BoycottMulan is…
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04 Sep

Disney’s Live-Action Mulan Ending Explained

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This Mulan article contains MAJOR spoilers. Read our spoiler-free review here. Disney just dropped its live-action adaptation of Mulan on Disney+ for “premium access.” Directed by Niki Caro and based on the Chinese legend, the film tells the story of Hua Mulan, a young woman who disguises herself as a man in order to take her aging father’s place in the army. The new, live-action version is very much not a shot-for-shot remake of the 1998 animated film, which means, even if you are a fan of the original Disney feature, you might still have some questions about how everything…
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04 Sep

Hidden Secrets in Disney’s Original 1998 Mulan

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It’s been over 20 years since the original Mulan movie hit our screens and now Disney is blessing us with a remake of the princess-with-a-twist tale. Forget sparkly slippers and a true love’s kiss, Mulan leads her army to victory in her fight for freedom. The phenomena that became Mulan was originally set to be a short based on an oppressed woman who finds love with a soldier who sweeps her off her feet, but doesn’t find independence. But Disney didn’t want to work on that. The Mulan we all know and love wouldn’t be anything if she wasn’t the…
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03 Sep

Mulan

Max SchindlerMovie reviews
When the Emperor of China issues a decree that one man per family must serve in the Imperial Army to defend the country from Northern invaders, Hua Mulan, the eldest daughter of an honored warrior, steps in to take the place of her ailing father. Masquerading as a man, Hua Jun, she is tested every step of the way and must harness her inner-strength and embrace her true potential. It is an epic journey that will transform her into an honored warrior and earn her the respect of a grateful nation…and a proud father. Rated: PG-13Release Date: Sep 04, 2020
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03 Sep

Mulan And The Chinese Women Warriors of History and Legend

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While American audiences know the story of Mulan through the 1998 animated Disney film and the upcoming live-action reboot, they may not know that the films are based on a Chinese legend. Hua Mulan is a legendary figure whose story was first told in “Ballad of Mulan,” a folksong first transcribed in the 6th century. In the legend, Mulan is a girl who disguises herself as a man and goes to war in place of her father. Mulan fights for many years as part of the army and, after earning much honor and gifts from the emperor, returns home to…
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03 Sep

How to Watch Mulan on Disney+

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Disney’s live-action Mulan adaptation comes out this Friday with an unprecedented release strategy for an unprecedented time. The 2020 film follows Hua Mulan (played by Chinese-born American actress Liu Yifei) on her journey from the family in which she is a misfit, to the Imperial Army in her father’s armor, to a showdown with the encroaching Rouran threat. You can check out our full spoiler-free review of the new film here, and read on to find out how, when, and where to watch Mulan when it comes out on Disney+ on September 4th. What time does Mulan come out? For…
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03 Sep

Matchless Mulan: The Other Live-Action Mulan Film of 2020

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Disney‘s new live-action adaptation of Mulan may be PG-13, but it’s still a Disney Princess movie. While the main storyline involves a young woman going off to fight in a war, this is a family film, which means things aren’t going to get particularly violent, even when Hua Mulan is facing off against invading armies. While that PG-13 rating broadens the potential audience for the film, it also limits the potential narrative scope of the story. For those looking for a bloodier war film about Chinese legend Mulan, there is another recent, live-action option for you. (There’s actually a few…
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03 Sep

Mulan: The Non-Disney Adaptations of a Classic Chinese Folklore

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The 1998 animated Disney’s Mulan introduced many in Western audiences to the legend of a young Chinese woman who disguised herself as a man to fight against an invading army. But the legend of Mulan had been around a lot longer—the first transcription of the story appears in the sixth century, and the earliest film version appeared in 1927. If you just can’t get enough of Mulan, check out these other versions of her story. The Ballad of Mulan (1998) While this picture book is geared at a young audience, it’s notable because it includes the text of one of…
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03 Sep

Mulan: The Real History of the Chinese Legend

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Disney has been killing it with live-action remakes of their beloved animated movie catalog. While the upcoming Mulan might look like yet another relatively straight adaptation of a previous animated film, it’s not quite the same. Mulan, in 1998 and now, is based on an ancient Chinese legend. Not a fairy tale. Her story was commonly known across Asia long before Disney’s animated feature, and it’s that story (as much as the animated feature) that makes up the inspiration for the new film. When it was announced that the new live-action film would not include the songs or her mini-dragon…
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DVD Guide reviews current dvd releases of movies and TV shows. The reviews of these dvd releases are my thoughts and understandings of the movie, dvd releases or TV show and not be taken as fact.

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