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Refresh for updates: On Disney’s 3Q earnings call today, it was announced that Mulan is going to Disney+ on Sept. 4.
Specifically, Disney will be releasing the film theatrically in certain markets where the studio currently has no announced launch plans for Disney+ and where theaters are open (i.e. China). The concern with opening the film in some theaters in the world, and not others, was, of course, piracy-related.
CEO Bob Chepak said it was important to find new avenues of distribution during the pandemic and that “in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, and number of countries, we will be offering on Disney+, the epic Mulan on a premiere access beginning Sept. 4, with the price point being $29.99 in the U.S.”
Chepak added during a round of questioning with financial analysts, “We’re pleased to bring Mulan to a consumer base that’s been waiting for it as we’ve had to move our (release) dates several times…We’re looking at Mulan as a one-off as opposed trying to say that there’s a new business windowing model.” What Disney will be keeping an eye on with Mulan is the uptick in subscribers as well as transactions generated on the service with that new price point. So, exhibition, don’t lose your hair yet: Disney isn’t planning to take Black Widow out of theaters this November (at least not yet).
In regard to pricing Mulan at the near $30 price, Chepak added, “as you know it’s fairly expensive to produce for consumers the quality we’re known for. Rather than simply rolling (the movie) into a free offering, we thought we can test anything when you have your own platform. We’re trying to establish a new premiere access window to capture that investment we got (in the film). We’ll have a chance to learn from this. From our research under a premiere access offering, not only does it get us revenue from our original transaction of PVOD, but it’s a fairly large stimulus to sign up for Disney+.”
God knows this decision will be a crushing blow for those U.S. movie theaters planning to reopen and in need of a big title. However, no one knows how the big circuits reopening is going to look and perform. Also, New York and California have yet to give a full clearance for hard top cinemas to reopen. There was buzz that Disney could go this way with Mulan, but some believed that they were just waiting to see what went on with Tenet. Disney’s move today by taking Mulan straight into homes over Labor Day weekend makes the Universal-AMC deal window collapse deal look like child’s play.
On July 23, Disney took Mulan off the calendar temporarily (its previous date being Aug. 21) as Warner Bros. was pausing their Tenet plans then. It was unfortunate timing by Disney as it was on the same day when AMC announced they’d be reopening slowly around the country by mid-August.
Chepak also mentioned today that global subscribers for Disney+ have reached 60.5M.