So, early this year, the highly anticipated remake of Disney's Mulan was supposed to be released on March 27th weeks after its Hollywood premiere. However, due to COVID, the official release has been delayed until recently when Disney announced that the film will be released on their streaming service, Disney+ (while it is released in theaters in locations across the world that do not have the service available).
Good news, yes? Well, before anyone can celebrate, there is a catch. It was announced to watch it on Disney+, subscribers have to pay an additional $29.99 to watch the film.
"WHAT?!"
I have a feeling that is what many of you reading this right now have just said after reading that bit of news. Personally, I am fine with paying for a regular ticket price range of $5 to $10 to stream the new film, or even the price of $19.99 that many services like Amazon Prime and many more have charged for films that were meant to be released in theaters this past Spring and Summer.
However, Disney threw a curve ball of having a price of $29.99 to watch their Mulan remake. Already, Disney+ subscribers have to pay a monthly fee of $7.57. So, altogether, a subscriber has to pay a full total of $37.56 next month if they want to watch the film.
We all have heard the numerous jokes of Disney being a greedy company that only cares about the money, and this action has completely re-enforced that joke into fact even more.
What's even hypocritical about this move is that Disney released both Artemis Fowl and Hamilton on the platform (and even Pixar's Onward, which had a brief theatrical release before the COVID shutdown cinemas across the globe) without any additional fee.
The question is "What makes the Mulan remake so special to charge $30 to watch it on Disney's streaming service?"
In all honesty, I cannot support this release with it's $30 price (with the additional $8 I pay monthly for the Disney+ service). This was a terrible move by Disney, and I have a feeling that this may bite them in the butt.
With that said, I will more likely stick with watching my DVD copy of the original animated film.