Disney’s live-action “Mulan” opened theatrically in China this weekend and collected $23.2 million, a decidedly underwhelming result for a film engineered to appeal to Chinese audiences.
The film hit political controversy twice, first due to star Liu Yifei’s social media posts last year and more recently over filming in Xinjiang. All of it contributed to the movie’s release being unable to get much media coverage or promotion in the Middle Kingdom. So far theatrically the $200 million-budgeted fantasy epic has made a mere $37.6 million globally.
In the U.S., Australia and parts of Europe however it has forgone a theatrical release in favor of a ‘Premier Access’ release on Disney+ for $30. The obvious question many want answered is how well has the film done there?
As Disney entirely controls those numbers, they haven’t revealed any figures beyond Disney CFO Christine McCarthy saying the company was “very pleased”. Now, third party figures have started to come forward and streaming guide Reelgood (via IndieWire) reports that the film had a 15% share among all titles streamed out of the two million users who access through their service.
To give you an idea of how it compares to other popular launches of late, the “Hamilton” musical had a 10% share while “Bill & Ted Face The Music” has a 5% share. That’s a substantial uptake, especially considering the film’s high price tag.
Other good indicators? “Mulan” sat at the top of the Disney+ ‘Trending’ tab for several days on launch week. In addition TechCrunch reports that the amount of downloads of the Disney+ app the week of the film’s release went up by 68% compared to the week prior, whilst consumer spending within the app grew 193% during the week as well.
Otherwise the rom-com “The Broken Hearts Gallery” opened to $1.125 million, “The New Mutants” landed $2.1 million in its third weekend, and “Unhinged” scored a further $1.5 million.
Source: THR
