Here is some non-surprising news as well as some surprising news.
Disney announced today that its long-delayed live-action remake of Mulan will debut on Disney+ in the U.S. on September 4. That’s the non-surprising news.
The unexpected bit is that Mulan will come with a price point of $24.99. That makes the movie the first offering from Disney+ that costs money on top of the monthly subscription fee. Disney recently debuted Artemis Fowl and Hamilton on the streaming service but neither of those movies — both originally set for theaters — came with any sort of price tag.
It’s an interesting approach for the company and hopefully not a sign of things to come. Disney+ has been a huge, runaway success so ideally Disney wouldn’t do anything to muck that up. But the only thing Disney loves more than making money is making more money so it wouldn’t be crazy to see other future movies offered for a price on Disney+. The studio is swearing up and down that this is just a one-off event and that there are no plans to charge for upcoming movies. Okay, Disney. Sure.
There has been a lot of speculation about the release of Mulan ever since it was initially delayed when COVID-19 first hit the states. Many had assumed that it would debut on Disney+ because movie theaters remain far too dangerous. Now we know how we’ll finally get access to the highly-anticipated effort. Better start saving your pennies.