Mulan heading to Disney+ for an extra fee

Mulan will be heading to Disney+ this September for an additional fee.

According to a report by Deadline, Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced that, due to the current challenges posed to the entertainment industry by the pandemic, ““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 September 4, with the price point being $29.99 in the U.S.”

He added:

“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.”

On the additional $30 fee, Chapek said:

“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+.”

This move will have serious ramifications on the future of the company itself as well as all the movie theaters that had been hoping to re-open with a big title like Mulan.

Disney will still be releasing Mulan theatrically in countries where there are no announced plans to launch Disney+ and where there are theaters that are open. Given the current global crisis, however, it will be some time before Mulan hits the big screen in these countries.

Mulan was originally scheduled to premier on March 27 and the official release date has been pushed several times to adapt to the evolving health crisis.

Don’t miss Mulan as it premieres on September 4 on Disney+.