Walt Disney Co’s big bet on Mulan , a $200-million live-action remake of a Chinese folk tale, is facing fresh political criticism days after its North American streaming debut and just before its planned premiere at cinemas in China.
A newspaper columnist and social media commenters have faulted Disney for filming in Xinjiang and for using the films credits to thank Chinese government departments from the region. As many as 1 million Uighurs in Xinjiang have been detained in camps that the Beijing government calls voluntary education centers.
In July, the US sanctioned a top member of Chinas ruling Communist Party and three other officials over human rights abuses in Xinjiang, a major escalation in the Trump administration’s tense rivalry with the country.
Disney debuted the film in the US on September 4 over its recently launched Disney+ streaming service, where its available for a special fee of $30. Downloads of Disney’s streaming app rose 68 per cent to 890,000 over the weekend, a sign that Mulan helped drive demand in a market where cinemas are still not fully reopened.
Before the pandemic, the film was intended to play big in China after a simultaneous debut in the world’s largest movie market after the U.S. Now, China is the first major market to fully reopen cinemas, with Mulan teed up for a September 11 debut in a key test of whether moviegoers are ready to crowd back into theaters for a blockbuster.