Disney's Live Action Mulan
Walt Disney Studios dropped a teaser for its live-action “Mulan” adaptation on July 7th, 2019. The video earned over 21 million views on YouTube alone, but not everyone was satisfied due to some inaccuracies. Therefore anticipation for the 2020 tentpole is quite high in China on an app called Weibo.
What we know so far
The main story will still take part with Mulan being a young woman who disguises herself as a male warrior to take her father's place in battle in order to save him. Unlike the other live-action remakes, Mulan looks to be changing up quite a few key elements found in the 1998 film, which was contrary to the live-action retellings we have recently seen from Disney. The upcoming film won’t have the heroine facing off against the leader of the Hun Army, Shan Yu, or falling in love with her captain, Li Shang. Instead she will be up against a powerful witch and she ends up finding love with a fellow solider in her unit, along with a new Commander character who will be her mentor on the long run.
Will the movie still have the musical Disney feel?
Disney has always pulled through with a musical film whether it’s a live-action or a classical animation. Niki Caro the film director originally said that there would be no songs in the live-action Mulan, which made many fans outraged. After many fans being outraged on twitter she later stated that music will play a role in the movie, but how much? Since the original Mulan had quite a bit of soundtracks, there’s no way they are able to fit all of them and it would be difficult for them to introduce some new ones as well.
The Emperor of China
Disney has cast Jet Li as the Emperor of China in the upcoming live-action Mulan. In the studio's first Mulan, the emperor gives the order for one male from each household to be drafted into the army and makes a brief appearance in the end of the film, when Mulan and some of the soldiers defeat Shan Yu. Perhaps he will be given a larger role in this film?