Mulans 2020 release on Disney Plus: Everything to know – CNET

Disney‘s unorthodox release plan for Mulan, like most things during the coronavirus pandemic, raises a lot of questions —  and even as the movie arrived online Friday, some remain unanswered. After delaying the big-screen rollout of Mulan three times since it was originally meant to hit theaters March 27, Disney finally decided to release the big-budget, live-action remake for an extra $30 fee onDisney Plus, its subscription streaming service that already costs $7 a month. Mulan was also supposed to debut in theaters the same day in countries that don’t (and won’t) have Disney Plus and where cinemas are actually open, but no theatrical openings Friday are confirmed. 

It’s an unprecedented move, unfathomable just six months ago, a major defection from the rigid rules that usually keep new movies in cinemas exclusively for 75 days or more. Until the pandemic, Disney had been loyal to those so-called theatrical windows, racking up more of the top box-office blockbusters in the last five years than any other studio. 

But it’s also a twist to how Disney has pitched Disney Plus since its launch in November. Disney Plus was marketed as a rival to Netflix, an all-you-can-eat buffet to stream almost everything Disney produces for one monthly subscription fee. But Mulan will involve an additional transaction that members must pay for — and a pricey one at that. It’ll be a new proposition for Disney Plus’ 60 million subscribers. 

The finer points about Disney’s Mulan release have come into focus, but some questions remain. Here’s everything we know so far and still are waiting to find out. 

Will Mulan ever be included “free” with a regular Disney Plus subscription? When?

Yes, Mulan will become part of a standard Disney Plus subscription on Dec. 4, three months after it premieres on the service for the extra fee. 

Temporarily over last weekend, Mulan’s Disney Plus preview page included language indicating that Dec. 4 would be when all Disney Plus subscribers get access to the film, but it was later removed. On Wednesday, that language was restored. 

That’s faster than a big-budget Disney movie would arrive on Disney Plus traditionally. In pre-pandemic times, Disney typically would add its theatrically released movies to Disney Plus roughly six to nine months after their wide releases on the big screen. 

At first in the pandemic, Disney Plus added some of its theatrically released movies to the service earlier than planned. Both Frozen 2 and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arrived on Disney Plus three months earlier than originally scheduled.  

Then, Disney Plus began to drop movies that had been originally planned for traditional theatrical runs. The filmed version of Broadway hit Hamilton, for example, was put out on Disney Plus more than a year earlier than it had been slated to hit the big screen.

Now, Mulan is the biggest budget movie yet to skip theaters and premiere online.

Read more: 30 best movies to watch on Disney Plus 

When is Mulan’s release date? 

Mulan will be available on Disney Plus on Friday; like most new titles on Disney Plus, it will first become available to stream at 12:01 am PT that day, according to a person familiar with the matter. 

Disney has said that this so-called “premier access” offer to watch Mulan on Disney Plus for an extra fee will last until Nov. 2. People purchase access to Mulan before Nov. 2 can keep watching it as long as they remain an active Disney Plus customer. It’s unclear what happens to after Nov. 2 when the “premier access” purchase offer ends and Dec. 4 when Mulan becomes part of the standard Disney Plus catalog. 

Mulan was supposed to be released in theaters the same day in some countries where cinemas are open and Disney Plus isn’t available, but Disney hasn’t confirmed theatrical details for Friday. In China, the film will be in available in cinemas on Sept. 11. 

How much does Mulan cost?

Mulan won’t be “free” with your Disney Plus membership at first. On Disney Plus, Mulan will be offered as what’s known as premium video-on-demand, which is when a movie is made available online at a higher-than-typical price. Disney itself is calling this model premier access. Purchasers will be able to watch Mulan for as long as they remain active Disney Plus subscribers. In other words, this isn’t a rental; it’s more like a purchase that is locked to a single service. 

Regardless of where you are, the additional price of Mulan will stack on top of Disney Plus’ standard membership cost. 

In the US, Mulan will be available on Disney Plus exclusively for $30 in addition to the service’s standard membership price, which is $7 a month or $70 a year. That doesn’t include taxes, which will bump up the price of Mulan a little bit more. 

Internationally:

• In Canada, Mulan is priced at C$35 and Disney Plus costs C$9 a month, or C$90 per year. 
• In Australia, Mulan is priced at AU$35 and Disney Plus costs AU$9 a month, or AU$90 per year
• In New Zealand, Mulan is priced at NZ$40 and Disney Plus costs NZ$10 per month, or NZ$100 per year.  
• In Japan, where Disney Plus is offered through Japanese telecom NTT Docomo, Mulan is priced at 2,980 yen and Disney Plus costs 700 yen a month.
• In the UK, Mulan is priced at £20 and Disney Plus costs £6 a month, or £60 a year. 
• In the euro zone, Mulan will be available in Ireland, Germany, Austria, Span, Italy, and the Netherlands. In those countries, Mulan is priced at 22 euros and Disney Plus costs 7 euros a month, or 70 euros a year. 
• In Swizerland, Mulan is priced at 29 francs and Disney Plus costs 9.90 francs, or 99 francs a year. 

Taxes vary by country. In some countries, purchasers will need to pay taxes on top of the Mulan purchase in addition to its advertised price. But in other countries, like those in the euro zone, the price of Mulan already includes taxes.

For countries where Mulan will be released in theaters, pricing will vary based on whatever local cinemas charge, as usual.    

How long will I be able to watch Mulan once I pay for it online? 

Once you unlock access to Mulan on Disney Plus, you keep your access to it for as long as you’re an active Disney Plus subscriber. If you cancel Disney Plus, you obviously won’t be able to watch Mulan anymore — but if you reactivate the same account, your Mulan access will be restored. Starting Dec. 4, Mulan becomes part of the standard Disney Plus catalog. 

What countries will get Mulan online? Where will it be released in theaters?

Mulan will be released on Disney Plus in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland. 

Beyond that, things get fuzzy. 

For one, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said Mulan would be released in theaters “in certain markets where currently we have no announced launch plans for Disney Plus and where theaters are open.” But one day before the online premiere, no theatrical openings Friday are confirmed. China, for one, is expected to have the film in theaters on Sept. 11, a week later. 

But there is a lot of uncertainty around Mulan’s release in countries where Disney Plus is confirmed to be launching after Mulan’s debut. 

Disney Plus is set to launch in eight more European countries on Sept. 15, nearly two weeks after Mulan’s premiere: Portugal, Belgium, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Disney’s release plan for Mulan in those countries — whether in theaters or online — isn’t clear. 

And Disney Plus is supposed to launch somehow in Latin America in November, but the company hasn’t specified dates or countries yet. Does Latin America count as a place with an announced launch plan, and therefore excluded from theatrical release? Again, it’s unclear. 

In addition, India has a question mark. Disney Plus operates in India as part of the company’s Hotstar service, but Mulan hasn’t been confirmed for online release in India yet.  

Disney has indicated that any country that is getting Mulan on Disney Plus will be excluded from theatrical release. New Zealand, for example, is confirmed to be getting Mulan on Disney Plus — but many New Zealand cinemas are open, a benefit of the country keeping the coronavirus largely under control. Kiwi audiences, however, aren’t expected to have their choice of seeing Mulan either online or in theaters, because the two release models appear to be mutually exclusive per country. 

Will Disney release other movies this way? What about Marvel’s Black Widow? 

This unconventional release of Mulan is basically an experiment. Disney CEO Chapek said that Mulan’s release strategy doesn’t necessarily set a new standard for how other Disney films will reach audiences during (or after) the pandemic. You shouldn’t count on other big Disney movies, such as Marvel’s Black Widow, following the same path of Mulan. 

However, Chapek left the door open to possibly release other movies this way again if Mulan turns out to be a success. 

“Mulan is a one-off,” Chapek said in early August. “That said, we find it very interesting to be able to … learn from it and see what happens, not only in terms of the uptake of the number of subscribers that we get on the platform but the actual number of transactions on the Disney Plus platform that we get.” 

Chapek wouldn’t go into detail, but he said that the company’s internal research indicated that releasing Mulan this way would not only drum up revenue from $30 purchases but also act as  “a fairly large stimulus to sign up for Disney Plus.”

Will I be able to watch Mulan online via any stores other than Disney Plus?

Initially, Mulan will be an online exclusive for Disney Plus. 

What happens after that is unclear. 

The fact that Disney Plus is ending the “premier access” offer for Mulan on Nov. 2 suggests that Disney may widen the availability to buy or rent Mulan online elsewhere. But Disney simply says no other video-on-deman plans have been confirmed or announced yet. 

After a traditional theatrical release, a movie typically widens to a home-viewing window in a few months, which includes various stages of DVD, Blu-ray and online rental and purchase. Those online rentals and purchases can be through a wide range of stores, but Amazon Video or Apple’s TV app are two big ones. 

Will people who purchase Mulan on Disney Plus be able to download it to watch offline? 

Yes. Once you pay for Mulan, it should be present in your Disney Plus library similar to any other title — so you should be able to download it, search for it by name, add it to a watchlist and so on. 

Disney Plus has a generous download policy. Pretty much everything on the service is available to download for offline viewing. The service limits the number of mobile or tablet devices that its subscribers can download on, allowing no more than 10 devices, but that’s the only constraint. 

What video and audio formats will Mulan support?

Mulan will be available in ultrahigh definition and high dynamic range imaging, and it will support Dolby Audio.

Will Mulan have closed captioning for people who are deaf or hard of hearing? Will it have descriptive audio for people who are blind or have low vision? 

Yes. Mulan is expected to include accessibility features like closed captions and descriptive audio. 

Disney Plus has a strong track record for accessibility. The service supports closed-captioning and descriptive audio, and Disney Plus apps have navigation assistance to help subscribers with disabilities. In July, the American Council of the Blind gave Disney Plus an achievement award for its descriptive audio. 

Will I be able to pay for Mulan through my iPhone app? My Android app? Other apps for Disney Plus?  

You will be able to buy access to Mulan through disneyplus.com and in the Disney Plus app for Roku, Apple, Google and Amazon Fire TV devices. 

By including support for Apple and Google purchases, that means you’ll be able to buy Mulan through your iPhone or Android phone with an in-app purchase. 

No other devices are confirmed for purchasing access to the movie, so if you typically watch Disney Plus on a game console or some other device that isn’t listed above, you’ll need to log on elsewhere to make the actual Mulan purchase. 

Note that this complication only affects where you’ll be able to pay for Mulan. Once the transaction is complete, you’ll be able to stream Mulan on any device that supports Disney Plus, regardless of app or platform. 

How will the Disney Plus user interface accommodate a video-on-demand purchase? 

To purchase access to Mulan, members should go to the Mulan page in Disney Plus, which on Friday will have a button to purchase the movie. If you’re using an app on an Apple device or a Google/Android device, the transaction will be a standard in-app purchase. If you’re on disneyplus.com, you’ll be given the option to charge your card on file, which may require you to enter the card’s 3- or 4-digit identification number, or you can choose a different method of payment to purchase the movie.

Once you make your way through the transaction for Mulan successfully, then the title will simply be unlocked as part of your wider Disney Plus catalog. You can find it by searching, adding it to your watchlist or browsing in the Disney section of the app. 

A word of warning for anyone who signed up for Disney Plus early: Choosing to pay for Mulan with your card on file could trigger snafus for people who are annual — or longer — subscribers. The long lag time in between an annual member’s first and only payment to Disney Plus raises the possibility of expired credit cards or anything else that could make an automatic payment go awry. 

The very first people who signed up for Disney Plus paid for a discounted three-year subscription, what was known as a Founder’s Circle deal. But these subscribers won’t have touched their Disney Plus payment details in more than a year by the time Mulan arrives. That could mean that Disney Plus’ most loyal subscribers are the ones most likely to run into payment problems if they pay with the default card.  

If you fall into those groups, double-check to be sure the card on file is one that’s still working.