Mulan skips theaters, on Disney + but at a high price

(ANSA) - NEW YORK, AUGUST 05 - He was due to go out in theaters in the next few weeks: together with Christopher Nolan's Tenet, a lifeline for operators who had been in lockdown for Coronavirus for months. Instead Mulan, the awaited re-release with incarnated actors and bones of the Disney cartoon, will debut directly on the Disney + channel, bypassing the distribution on the big screen.
    The film with Liu Yifei in the part of the heroine who pretends to avoid her father from going to war will be launched on September 4 at the price of $ 29.99 in addition to the subscription of $ 6.99 per month: a test by Disney studios to determine how much its more than 60 million customers are ready to pay to see a production originally created for the big screen.
    In markets where Disney + is not available, the film will be distributed in theaters. The decision follows a few days after the announcement of the chains AMC Theaters and Universal to allow the streaming debut of some titles after only 17 days of programming. Historically Disney, of all the majors, has always been among the supporters of the collective experience of a film in the cinema and the about-face has created frustration among the exhibitors: in Great Britain for example, where 40% of theaters began to reopen after the lockdown , the decision appeared unfairly punitive.
    Disney CEO Bob Chapek said the decision on Mulan is not a new business model, but "it is an isolated case".
    The asking price for Mulan's viewing is the highest in streaming distribution so far: $ 10 more than Universal paid for Trolls World Tour and a risky bet on days when unemployment levels are at the levels of the Great Depression, but also a way, as Chapek explained, to recover a part of the over $ 200 million investment made in the film. (HANDLE).