Mulan (Disney+) Movie Review & Comments

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Fair point but if the numbers are good for this why do a cinema release in the future, all the money goes directly to Disney no cut from the cinema chain. Also B&T3 was just a TV movie anyhow and not a good one at that.
The movie studio takes a HUGE cut of the film in it's initial release. Why do you think it costs £9 for a drink and medium box of popcorn? There is ZERO chance I'm paying that so day one release they only get a booking fee from me.
 
,LI think it would be great if all future films were released in cinemas and pvod. Let the customers choose where they want to see the movies (I am fortunate enough to have a large screen and projector and I know many do not. I wouldn't want to rob them of the opportunity to see new movies on a large screen with good sound.)
I would love that too. But even before Covid, cinemas were not a wildly profitable business. Anything that reduces their takings by even a small amount will probably kill the business. AMC (they own Odeon) has recently taken out more loans just to stay afloat. A lot of people could lose their job.
The movie studio takes a HUGE cut of the film in it's initial release.
They receive around 40 to 60% domestic and 30 to 40% from the international take. So after film budget, reshoots and marketing, a film can make a billion dollars and still be considered only moderately successful.
 
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Not only that but if you buy this you are also buying into a two tier rental model where Disney will put anything they can get away with behind an additional rental paywall in addition to the subscription fees. The service is pretty sparse as it is without having a premium tier with premium content like the Mandalorian requiring extra charges.
Agree. I couldn't give a crap about the cinema (chains) since I very rarely go, but this is a VERY dangerous precedent for D+.

I have always said this about D+. It's a cheap service and this is a perfect way of keeping the price down, but somehow make more money off it. If people thought they would release big title films quickly on the service and keep the prices as they are? Oh dear, your being far too generous to a multi billion industry.
 
After a bit of a slow start I thought it really picked up and thoroughly enjoyed it by the end. Good movie.
 
5.4 on IMDB.

Ouch.
I’d ignore these, most of the review scores are for people who haven’t seen it and are just scoring it 1/10 out of principle.
in fact, when I checked, it was scoring 2.9/10 around 48 hours ago, so just proves the point.
 
I could get used to this, I think it would be great if all future films were released in cinemas and pvod. Let the customers choose where they want to see the movies (I am fortunate enough to have a large screen and projector and I know many do not. I wouldn't want to rob them of the opportunity to see new movies on a large screen with good sound.)

Spot on. It's easy to forget as we're an AVForum that many families don't have super duper home setup's, so the only way they get to marvel at a film is on the big screen. Even more important for kids, especially given how lavish and spectacular films are these days.

I had some great days out when I was young at the cinema. Just springing to mind is watching Ghostbusters 2 and Arachnophobia. It's a very sad sentiment in my opinion to just see them closed without any feeling whatsoever. As if they've had their day. They definitely haven't.

Also there are many jobs/livelihoods, and we should want to keep that going regardless of opinion. Certainly there is a rethink needed for some of the larger chains, but their survival is still in the industry's interest.
 
Spot on. It's easy to forget as we're an AVForum that many families don't have super duper home setup's, so the only way they get to marvel at a film is on the big screen. Even more important for kids, especially given how lavish and spectacular films are these days.

I had some great days out when I was young at the cinema. Just springing to mind is watching Ghostbusters 2 and Arachnophobia. It's a very sad sentiment in my opinion to just see them closed without any feeling whatsoever. As if they've had their day. They definitely haven't.

Also there are many jobs/livelihoods, and we should want to keep that going regardless of opinion. Certainly there is a rethink needed for some of the larger chains, but their survival is still in the industry's interest.
100% agree. But I'm going to make a prediction, not a particularly bold one mind you but here it is.

If you've ever watched a movie in a virtual cinema on a massive screen then you'll know that the beginning of the end is already here. Right now it's a little complicated to set up in order to connect to your AV receiver for proper audio. But there are already technologies on the way to enable similar levels of audio immersion for headphones etc.

You can watch films with the family in VR in your own private cinema. Or join a VR watch party where you watch with people from all over the world. Once the size and weight of VR devices become sensible this is probably where we will end up. Covid might just be the catalyst to speed this up.

Paradoxically we could end up even more isolated than we already are. Ready Player One, here we come! Won't that be fun :(
 
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100% agree. But I'm going to make a prediction, not a particularly bold one mind you but here it is.

If you've ever watched a movie in a virtual cinema on a massive screen then you'll know that the beginning of the end is already here. Right now it's a little complicated to set up in order to connect to your AV receiver for proper audio. But there are already technologies on the way to enable similar levels of audio immersion for headphones etc.

You can watch films with the family in VR in your own private cinema. Or join a VR watch party where you watch with people from all over the world. Once the size and weight of VR devices become sensible this is probably where we will end up. Covid might just be the catalyst to speed this up.

Paradoxically we could end up even more isolated than we already are. Ready Player One, here we come! Won't that be fun :(

I think you forgot about what will be the most important thing of all - cost. How much would this little soiree set you back? And for a family of 4 say? New technologies don't come cheap.

I don't dispute that's what the future may indeed look like, but I think we're a little premature still for VR cinema. I'm not sure Covid is going to speed things up too much either, other than this flirtation with going straight to VOD.

On a side note I also seem to remember being told once that if I was serious about watching films in future I'd need to be ready to invest in a suped up 3D setup! :eek:
 
I think you forgot about what will be the most important thing of all - cost. How much would this little soiree set you back? And for a family of 4 say? New technologies don't come cheap.

I don't dispute that's what the future may indeed look like, but I think we're a little premature still for VR cinema. I'm not sure Covid is going to speed things up too much either, other than this flirtation with going straight to VOD.

On a side note I also seem to remember being told once that if I was serious about watching films in future I'd need to be ready to invest in a suped up 3D setup! :eek:
VR cinema is already here. Cost isn't as big an issue as it used to be because the Oculus Quest has changed the math. I'm not saying that it's cheap, but many would consider the ability to watch films on a large screen (possibly with others) with practically no additional equipment worth it.

If you want to set up a proper VR cinema with audio then it becomes more technically challenging and costly. Covid has already sped things up. Where I work for example, maybe only a couple hundred people regularly worked from home, now it's a couple thousand. How many of them are likely to upgrade their Internet connections? Quite a few I would say.

I'm not talking about this happening this year, there are too many issues with VR hardware. The Oculus Quest is clunky and heavy, but has outsold both iterations of the Rift. Once a lighter and smaller visor is sorted out, even more non technical people will go for it.

Trolls was officially the first leak from the dam. If Mulan is successful (and that is a big if) then what happens? Streaming at home? More cinemas close? More streaming from home, VR becomes more user friendly, then.........
 
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Paradoxically we could end up even more isolated than we already are. Ready Player One, here we come! Won't that be fun :(
Mark-Zuckerberg-samsung-gear-vr.jpg

Each step forward on the road to progress is a step down further into the abyss.
 
Thanks Cas. I watched it on Friday I thought the premium rental was well worth it, I really enjoyed it. I’m a fan of the original. I thought this was a really good take on the telling of the story of Mulan that’s different to the original and not the same film again (Lion King 2019). I thought it was well acted and directed and it looked gorgeous especially in Dolby Vision.
 
Can’t get Mulan on my sky Disney + app(southern Ireland) , only allows preview .
 
Pitch Meeting already up. Contains major spoilers.


If I like a movie which I know is poor, I usually don't watch the "Pitch Meeting" about it since the movie is usually torn to shreds. This isn't a really bad movie, just a moderately entertaining but poorly constructed mediocre one. Which means it gets torn to shreds.

My new favourite line from Mulan. About the bad guys:
"They spend a lot of time on their makeup. They're basically violent theatre students".

....No I don't care that it's not actually in the film.
 
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Annoys me that some territories are getting this theatrically.
 
How do you watch this? I have Disney+ subscription but there's nowhere I can access the rental option for this (not that I'm planning to just yet). There's just a button to watch the trailer.

That was what it looked like on mine before it went 'live'.

Afterwards you should get a screen like this (only slightly bigger)

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Cheers. I am tempted not gonna lie. Perhaps I'll treat myself come payday.

My feeling would be, if you're not watching with your kids, wait until it's 'free'. I'm betting at least a part of the disappointment some are finding is in forking out £20 for a movie which is clearly aimed at families (despite the 12 rating) and then getting the feeling afterwards they might as well have just waited until it was free.

I mean, I had completely different expectations and was very pleasantly surprised (I wasn't expecting the Crouching Tiger-isms, or Gong Li) but going in with the opposite expectations I suspect is just going to end badly.

FWIW.
 
Cheers. I am tempted not gonna lie. Perhaps I'll treat myself come payday.

My feeling would be, if you're not watching with your kids, wait until it's 'free'. I'm betting at least a part of the disappointment some are finding is in forking out £20 for a movie which is clearly aimed at families (despite the 12 rating) and then getting the feeling afterwards they might as well have just waited until it was free.
...
The film itself is probably more Lion King than Jungle Book if that helps.

Don't let the fact that it has two of the most charismatic martial arts stars of this generation in Jet Li and Donnie Yen fool you. Jet is neutered and Donnie is on a bloodless leash. I never gave Gong Li much thought, but on reflection her story arc was a more complete one even with the the issue at the end.

I'm never sure with you on whether you will like something or not but I would err on the side of caution and not spend your money unless you are watching this with young family members.
 
The film itself is probably more Lion King than Jungle Book if that helps.

Don't let the fact that it has two of the most charismatic martial arts stars of this generation in Jet Li and Donnie Yen fool you. Jet is neutered and Donnie is on a bloodless leash. I never gave Gong Li much thought, but on reflection her story arc was a more complete one even with the the issue at the end.

I'm never sure with you on whether you will like something or not but I would err on the side of caution and not spend your money unless you are watching this with young family members.

Cheers guys. Perhaps then I'll be patient and wait for it to join the rest of the free content. My 'to watch' pile is still plenty full.
 
I've just watched an AV review for Mulan. If you watch it in 4K HDR it's said to be one of the best looking films around with the Disney+ stream rivalling some 4K discs. The colours pop off the screen and the HDR combined with a very high level of detail makes it look like a cartoon brought to life. So unless you live near a modern 4k laser projection cinema, this is probably the best way to watch it. The Atmos track is apparently a very good 7.1 track with decent bass response, but for much of the film, the height channels are silent.

It sounds like a lot of that 200 million dollars was put into making this production look spectacular. Disney as usual are hit and miss with the audio.
 
I appreciate that for a lot of people the price is contentious... But my two cents, as a family of 5 with a home cinema, was that we considered this a bargain. Remember, Trolls world tour was £15 for a 48 hour rental (and I ended up having to rent it 3 times for my ankle grabbers). All I am saying is, value is objective and if there's a load of you watching then who can argue?

Now... The film itself was alright - it's could have been a little leaner and some of the more adult concepts went totally above my kids heads (like the phoenix). But, it kept our interest and will be viewed again. As a family we still prefer the animated version, but this was definitely the best take on a remake so far. We'd probably go 7/10.

Finally, regarding the apparent death of cinemas... I've no idea how others choose to watch films in the house vs the cinema, but for our family it's all about the experience! My local cinemas are pretty decent and competitive (they'd have matched the price of the premiere access for Mulan for the 5 of us) but I only go when I want to make it a big deal... Popcorn, hot dogs, sundaes and a film that I know will keep the attention of everyone until its conclusion. Mulan was not that sort of film for us, so the chance to experience it at home, with a pause button to explain what's going on and let the little ones have a break for the loo, was practically perfect and meant we have invested £20 back in to the movie industry that simply would not have made it there otherwise.

crabby
 

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