Disney’s live-action Mulan is streaming on Disney+ after months of pandemic delays

The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, which was first identified in China in December, has had sweeping effects in the public health, business, and travel sectors, among others. And while the repercussions for the entertainment industry may seem to pale in comparison to the clear threat the virus poses to human life, the ripple effects do have implications for the people around the world who make a living producing and distributing movies, music, and more.

The immense and lucrative Chinese film industry was hit almost immediately as movie theaters across the country were closed and major releases were delayed. Hollywood soon began to feel the effects, too, and as time passes, the impacts of the coronavirus on the global film and entertainment industries continue to be vast.

Disney’s new live-action film Mulan has become a global sensation, but not just for the reason the storied production company hoped.

Some viewers who paid to stream the movie on Disney+ last weekend found something troubling in the credits: Disney thanked eight government bodies in Xinjiang, a western province in China where around 2 million Uighur Muslims have been forced into concentration camps by the Chinese government. It turns out parts of Mulan were filmed in Xinjiang two years ago, well after the world knew about Beijing’s plan to “reeducate” Uighurs with Communist Party doctrine.

“There have been many tales of the great warrior Mulan,” says Mulan’s father in voice over as Disney’s live-action take on Mulan opens. “But ancestors, this one is mine.”

It’s true, there are a lot of Mulans out there. The story of Mulan, a young Chinese woman who disguises herself as a man and joins the army to save her father’s life, has been told over and over again for the past 1,500 years at least. It’s both beloved and iconic, and Mulan, who is as virtuous as she is strong and brave, is an essential heroine. And every time we retell her story, we have to make certain that she is still virtuous — whatever virtue means for the time and place where we’re telling it.

The soundtrack of Disney’s 1998 Mulan is full of gems. There’s the lilting and plaintive “Reflection,” an I-want song that’s developed a second life as a coming-out anthem. There’s the campy burlesque of “A Girl Worth Fighting For,” and the impossible-to-stop-humming “Honor to Us All.”

But perhaps most iconic is the Rocky-esque training montage song “I’ll Make a Man Out of You,” which blares out as Mulan and her army bros are transformed from a bunch of incompetent neophytes into fully prepared and unstoppable warriors in two minutes flat. On “Let’s get down to business,” they can’t even heft their staffs convincingly, but look at them go! By the time they get to that final “mysterious as the dark side of the moon,” they’re running confidently through storms of arrows and splitting stone blocks with a single blow! “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” scores a training montage that was indelibly engraved into the minds of a generation, and as such, it holds a special place in the culture.

“Let’s get down to business!” orders the commander of the conscripted army in 1998’s Mulan, as he’s trying to whip his ragtag officers into shape. The line kicks off the excellent montage song “I’ll Make a Man Out of You,” a number steeped in irony, because it’s the one thing that the commander can’t do to Mulan — a girl who’s disguised herself as a boy and run away from home to join the imperial forces.

That song, and all of its cheeky irony, doesn’t make it into Disney’s new live-action adaptation of the animated hit Mulan. Though it may be the most highly anticipated of all Disney’s recent remakes, spiritually, there’s little connective tissue between the 2020 version and its predecessor.

One of the greatest Disney movies in history is Mulan (1998), a story about how drag saves China.

Toward the end of the film, Mulan dresses up her friends (one of whom is voiced by Broadway star Harvey Fierstein) as female concubines to infiltrate a palace swarming with Huns. Said Huns underestimate them and are completely surprised by the ambush.

The Covid-19 pandemic has trashed the entertainment industry, and one of its highest-profile targets has been Disney’s live-action adaptation of Mulan. Originally slated to come out on March 27, the film’s theatrical debut was delayed until July 24, then August 21, before it was taken off the release calendar entirely.

But then, during an August 4 earnings call with investors, Disney executives announced that Mulan would be released on Disney+, the company’s streaming service. The film will begin streaming on Friday, September 4, and it will come with a fee attached: Subscribers who want to see it will pay an additional $29.99 to watch Mulan as a “premium” offering, three months before it becomes available to all Disney+ subscribers in December. In countries without access to Disney+ — including China, the country in which Mulan’s story is set — the film will arrive in theaters that same day.