After three years of waiting, a big-budget fantasy remake from Disney is finally coming to TV: With battles, mythical beasts and epic landscapes, the action-adventure Mulan scores
This Sunday, 2 April 2023, a fantasy blockbuster will be on free TV for the first time: at 8:15 p.m. RTL will show Disney’s live-action remake Mulan. The remake, directed by Niki Caro (Whale Rider), draws not only on an ancient Chinese legend, but also on a considerable budget.
Mulan on TV today: one of the most expensive fantasy adventures for Disney
The animated film Mulan was released in 1998. More than 30 years later, Disney dressed its Chinese heroine in real-life garb and once again sent her disguised as a man to fight against dark forces: based on the ancient Chinese ballad of Hua Mulan, war threatens the empire and so men are drafted from every family to defend their homeland. To relieve her ailing father of this burden, Mulan (Yifei Liu) pretends to be a son and uses a false identity to earn respect within the army.
The fantasy aspects are somewhat scaled back in the remake of Mulan, although a shapeshifter and a phoenix instead of a dragon continue to keep the magic alive. In addition, a hidden guest appearance makes a touching reference to the original.
Mulan remake with Donnie Yen
Among all the Disney animated classics remade as live-action films, Mulan plays a special role, not least because of its enormous budget: officially, the fantasy remake cost 200 million dollars, which made Mulan the most expensive female-directed film worldwide. But even within the Disney remakes, Mulan was only surpassed by The Lion King (with a budget of $260 million) and drew level with Alice in Wonderland ($200 million). Actress Gong Li even claimed that Mulan’s cost was closer to $300 million.
The box office receipts did not reflect the costs because the release of Mulan fell in the middle of the Corona panemic. The cinemas were closed in the USA, and the film grossed about 70 million dollars worldwide. That’s why an alternative exploitation came into play: Disney+ released Mulan in a streaming experiment for 20€/30$ before the remake also became regularly available on subscription three months later.
So if you miss the fantasy remake on TV, you can also stream Mulan on Disney+ *. We had already compiled everything else you need to know about the Mulan remake before the film’s release.
