Why China Hated Mulan's Remake (Despite Disney Making It For That Market)
Despite Disney going out of its way to tailor its live-action Mulan to the sensibilities of the Chinese market, it's falling flat in the country. Going into 2020, there's little doubt that Disney was banking on Mulan to be a massive hit, both critically and commercially. Its animated predecessor was, after all, and Disney has seen enormous success with its live-action remakes, at least financially. Everything seemed lined up for Mulan to do the same, with lots of positive buzz surrounding the project.
Then, of course, Coronavirus - aka COVID-19 - showed up to throw the entire world for a loop in early 2020. Things have improved at varying rates in various places since, but few countries have outright eradicated the virus from their population. Until there's a vaccine, Coronavirus seems here to stay for the long haul. Even now, movie theaters in the U.S. are still mostly closed, and around the world it differs by country. By summer, it became clear that a traditional theatrical release wouldn't be possible, with Disney deciding to launch Mulan as a premium offering on Disney+, in addition to playing theatrically where possible.
While the financial returns around Mulan's PVOD release remain unconfirmed, what is confirmed is how little China seems to care about Mulan. The film opened to very weak numbers at the Chinese box office, and was met by most of that country's citizens with a resounding meh. Here's what led to that unfortunate circumstance happening.
Ever since the Chinese market began to become more and more important to an American film's overall success at the box office, studios have been going out of their way to try and tailor their product in a way that will guarantee it to excel in China. In Mulan's case, Disney designed the remake from the ground up to appeal to Chinese audiences, and of course, since nothing gets released in China without state approval, the Chinese government. Casting Yifei Liu in the title role was a big part of this push, as she's a huge household name in China.
To further that point, Disney assembled its first ever all-Chinese cast for Mulan, partly to make things more authentic, but also to further its pull for Chinese patrons by including multiple actors they know and love. Disney even got the script pre-approved by the Chinese government, as well as running it by Chinese consultants for advice on how to approach the material. To say that Disney wanted Mulan to be a hit in China would be an absolute understatement, as it was arguably their primary goal.
Casting Yifei Liu turned into its own headache for Disney in the summer of 2019, when she opted to express a political opinion many found objectionable. The Chinese government was in the midst of a heavy crackdown on the people of Hong Kong, and mass protests were happening in the streets in response to new laws being pushed for that would curtail Hong Kong's relative independence from mainland China. During this, Liu saw fit to express her support for the police cracking down on protesters. Needless to say, this wasn't received well by those wanting to preserve a free Hong Kong.
The backlash was swift and powerful, with a campaign to boycott the film happening many months before its originally scheduled March release date. Leading up to and following the September 4 release of Mulan on Disney+, the boycott Mulan campaign was reignited, partly due to continued issues between the Chinese government and the people of Hong Kong, and due to an unwillingness of those who felt slighted by Liu's comments to let the issue die. The whole thing has been a PR nightmare, as Disney can't really offer up an opinion either way, especially one that might anger the Chinese government.
While Disney made a big show of assembling a Chinese cast, and going back to the original source material, titled The Ballad of Hua Mulan, behind the scenes, the creative team was decidedly not Chinese. The people of China haven't been shy about pointing this out in their takes on the film, which accuse Disney of playing off cultural stereotypes, and employing Chinese concepts in a way that doesn't readily make sense. A lot of Chinese viewers also didn't care for the changes to Mulan's character, in that she's almost a skilled superhero from the beginning, lessening the impact of her ascension to powerful warrior.
Strangely enough, some Chinese viewers even ended up feeling like the animated version, Mushu and all, was a better representation of the original folklore. Unlike western audiences, the Chinese also have a lot to compare it too, as The Ballad of Hua Mulan has received over a dozen screen adaptations that have only been released locally. While Disney tried its best to be authentic in casting and planning, that proved to not be a substitute for Chinese voices in elsewhere on the creative end.
It's safe to say that after Yifei Liu's controversial comments, Disney was really hoping to not cause any more firestorms. Unfortunately, top Disney executives were reportedly unaware that the film's choice to film scenery shots in Xinjiang would probably upset some people. In that region, the Chinese government has rounded up members of a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority called the Uighurs into what are for all intents and purposes concentration camps. It's one of the country's worst human rights abuses in recent memory, and naturally, people want it to stop.
Where this caused problems for Disney was that upon Mulan's release, it was noticed that during the end credits, government and police entities in Xinjiang are thanked for making the filming there possible. This led to even more pressure mounting on the boycott Mulan movement. That put Disney in a tough position, as speaking out regarding the human rights issue would likely anger the Chinese government. Either way, China ordered press coverage of the movie to be lessened until the controversy died down, further damaging Mulan's marketing push.