Trivia / Mulan (2020)

• Approval of God:
  • Ming-Na Wen, the original voice actress of Mulan, congratulated Liu Yifei for getting the role and expressed her excitement for the film after seeing the trailer. She also attended the premiere and showed similar delight for the final product.
  • Tony Bancroft, one of the directors of the original animated film, is delighted that the remake isn't a carbon copy of his film, in contrast to The Lion King (2019) which he disowned. Just like Ming-Na Wen, he praised the movie as a whole.
• Box Office Bomb: The film bombed in the very place where it was intended to go bonkers — China, a theatrical market that had already well recovered from the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdowns. The film got much harsher reactions from Chinese critics and audiences than it did in the US and sank against local blockbuster The Eight Hundred and fellow import Tenet, making just over $40 million in the country. Globally it did even worse, since the total revenue wasn't even $67 million — against a budget of $200 million and marketing campaign for another $180 million. The numbers from the Premier Access on Disney+ remain obscure regarding its profitability in the end (the estimate is $62–93 million); however, Mulan's digital-only model was quickly abandoned for premium titles, with future Premier Access releases being simultaneously launched in theaters and Disney putting the format on ice beginning with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
• California Doubling: Set in China but mostly filmed in New Zealand.
• Cast the Runner-Up: An unusual variation in that Liu Yifei was a runner-up for the title role in Mulan: Rise of a Warrior, rather than for the role of a character in this adaptation of the ballad.
• Dawson Casting: Mulan is supposed to be young person, in her early 20s at most, yet Liu Yifei was 31 when the movie was supposed to be released.
• Dueling Works: There were three more Mulan movies releasing in 2020, all of them coming from China: Matchless Mulan, Unparalleled Mulan and Kung-fu Mulan. The last one is in CGI while the rest are in live-action. Matchless Mulan and Unparalleled Mulan are actually more gory and violent than Disney's Mulan.
• Fake Nationality:
  • Quite a few characters were played by Chinese-American actors including Ron Yuan (Qiang) and Jimmy Wong (Ling).
  • Jason Scott Lee, of mixed Native Hawaiian and Chinese ancestry, portrays the Rouran warlord Böri Khan, in all likelihood a Proto-Mongol.
  • Doua Moua, a Thailand native of Hmong descent, plays Chien-Po.
  • The Chancellor is played by Taiwanese-Canadian actor Nelson Lee.
  • Hongkonger Tzi Ma portrays Mulan's father, Hua Zhou.
  • Australian Arka Das as Red Fez.
• Falsely Advertised Accuracy: The movie was hyped up as being more culturally accurate than the original, and Word of God is that the creators removed Mushu for cultural authenticity reasons, but it demonstrated several more blatantly inaccurate takes on basic aspects of Chinese folklore, customs, and history:
  • The film replaces Mushu with a Chinese Fenghuang, but appearance aside it has nothing to do with the Fenghuang and all to do with the otherwise-unrelated Western Phoenix, such as as dying in fire and rising from the ashes.
  • The film also treats Qi as a form of Power Levels, and Mulan's central conflict involves the characters claiming that as a woman, Mulan shouldn't have this much Qi, and that her arc revolves around her learning to stop hiding her Qi. The issue is that Qi is traditionally understood as Life Energy - everyone has it on some level, and anyone can convert it to a form they can use with the right training, regardless of gender or age. Also, the very presence of Qi as a concept in this movie is incredibly out of place, since it's a concept that's much more closely associated with Wuxia than war stories.
  • Word of God also states that the movie does not have songs because it would be unrealistic for soldiers to sing in a warzone. The problem is that military songs have long existed to help raise morale among the troops; so yes, it would be realistic for soldiers to sing in a warzone.
  • The idea of a Chinese emperor, the Son of Heaven, accepting a duel from a barbarian leader, is nothing short of absurd. By doing so, the emperor not only endangers himself (the single most important person in the entire country), but also implies that a barbarian is the emperor's equal, an utterly unthinkable idea. In fact, duels in general were fairly rare in Chinese history (romanticized accounts like Romance of the Three Kingdoms notwithstanding).
  • Xianniang being persecuted for being a witch is also noted to be a very Western-centric idea: women using magic in ancient China (like soothsayers and shamans) were actually noted to be well-respected and often held high positions in courts, and it was only using magic for selfish ends that would have caused them to be persecuted. It would have made more sense for her to be an evil spirit or demon instead of a mortal magic-user, especially since she uses abilities that such creatures are actually known to use, such as shapeshifting.
  • During the matchmaker scene, duilian (Chinese couplets) are shown in the background. While duilian are a fairly ubiquitous form of calligraphy, these couplets don't adhere to the most basic requirements (they need to be of equal length and rhyme). Worse, what's written on them is from literature written centuries after the time period Mulan is set in.
  • At one point, the emperor calls for his troops to “defend the Silk Road” from the Rouran invaders. The problem is, the associated territories would not fall under the control of China until the 18th century.
• Killer App: Being a Disney+-exclusive in the US, upon release the streaming service saw a raise of 68% in downloads compared to the previous weekend, while the required $30 fee led to a skyrocketing number of in-app purchases.
• Lying Creator: Director Niki Caro stated in an interview that Mulan "isn't a superhero" and they wanted to portray her as a normal woman pulling off realistic feats. In the movie, Mulan is given magical qi powers and is shown performing physics-defying moves that would rival Legolas (running along walls, backflipping off a galloping horse to deflect a spear with her foot, fatally kicking an arrow into an enemy's chest etc). Although she's technically not a "superhero" in the traditional sense, the film still emphasizes that she's got special abilities.
• Multiple Languages, Same Voice Actor: Liu Yifei (Mulan), Gong Li (Xianniang), Jet Li (The Emperor) and Cheng Pei-pei (The Matchmaker) played their on-camera roles in English and dubbed their lines for the Mandarin-language release.
• Novelization First: The change in release date for the movie meant that the novelization ended up being released first in some markets.
• Playing Against Type: Veteran Shaw Brothers martial arts queen Cheng Pei-Pei plays the matchmaker, a role which not only isn't related to martial arts in any way, but also borderline comic relief.
• Release Date Change: It was originally going to be released in November 2018, but was pushed to March 2020 to avoid clashing with The Nutcracker and the Four Realms and a very packed 2019 year for Disney. Its wide theatrical release (it had already premiered at the Dolby Theatre in L.A.) was delayed again two weeks before its planned release on March 27, before getting delayed to July 24 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The film was then delayed to August 21, then taken off the schedule. It was eventually announced that the movie would come to Disney+ under a premium model for $30 on September 4, 2020. Theatrical releases are scheduled at the same time in countries where theaters have reopened and where Disney+ is not available.
• Saved from Development Hell: Back in 2010, there were plans for a live-action adaptation of the animated film which would be directed by Chuck Russell with Zhang Ziyi as Mulan but it was cancelled. It's only in 2015 when Disney restarted production with the film set to be released in 2018, and then it got delayed again (reportedly to wait for lead actress Liu Yifei to be available).
• So My Kids Can Watch: Jet Li originally turned down the film due to being dissatisfied with both the role and the paycheque. His daughters convinced him to take it, saying that it was important for a company like Disney to shed a light on Chinese culture.
• Troubled Production:
  • In October 2019, reportedly due to disastrous test screenings, the film was scheduled to undergo extensive reshoots.
  • In March 2020, complications caused by the COVID-19 outbreak delayed the release of the film even further until it was released in September on Disney+ instead of regular theaters.
• What Could Have Been: Disney initially chose Ang Lee as the director for the film but he declined because he was busy promoting Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.

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