The release of Disney's "Mulan" in China failed to meet expectations over the weekend, with the movie performing relatively poorly at the country's box offices. Disney had very high hopes for the performance of the live-action remake of its iconic animated film in China but weeks of controversies and bad reviews held back viewers during its weekend debut.
Over the weekend, the movie only managed to bring in about $23 million in Chinese box office sales. This was less than the $30 million that was generated by Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" during the same period. The movie's box office performance was also less than half of the sales generated by Disney's live-action "The Lion King" remake released in the country last summer.
Disney was quick to note that one of the factors that prevented the move from performing as expected was due to still enforced social distancing restrictions in China. While more than 91 percent of China's theaters have already reopened, all of them were still being restricted to operating only at 50 percent capacity. This apparently limited the number of attendees during the movie's weekend premier.
While a $20 million opening weekend during the pandemic would be a respectable take for any movie in the U.S., the number is extremely low considering the performance of other movies in recent weeks. The Chinese war epic "The Eight Hundred," which debuted in the country last month, managed to rake in more than $83 million during its weekend debut. The movie, which centers around a group of Chinese soldiers fighting the Japanese invasion, debuted when China had much fewer theaters open to the public.
Analysts at Exhibitor Relations pointed out that Disney's "Mulan" debut was a huge misfire. The controversy revolving its actors, which led to calls for a nationwide boycott, and the slew of bad reviews were most likely the main contributors to the movie's failed launch in China. The company added that Disney will likely have to rely upon the success of the movie's premium video-on-demand release on its Disney Plus platform.
Disney had yet to release any official figures on how much it has managed to generate so far on the release of the movie on its streaming service. The company's chief financial officer, Christine McCarthy, did mention last week that they would be releasing more data on the performance of the film during Disney's upcoming quarterly earnings report in November.
