Via YouTube

Disney’s newest live-action adaptation of Mulan made its debut in the Chinese mainland early week this September. However, the live-action drama based on a centuries-old traditional Chinese story fails to win the Chinese audience, despite the remake’s promised great hopes.

Originally, the film was much anticipated by Chinese Fans, as it was announced that the movie will touch with the original story of a brave young Chinese woman who joins the army in place of her sick, elderly father. In the live-action remake, Disney even removed fan’s favorite dragon sidekick, Mushu to cater to the Chinese viewers.

Via Google

At first glance, it seemed like a great deal: a Chinese folk story with adventure, Disney's animation, and millions of Chinese children waiting for this movie. But instead of being a box office film, the remake was botched in its ancestral homeland. The film grossed about $300 million worldwide. But in the province of Hunan, Mulan’s home province, the film closed with barely $30,000 gross. Maoyan forecast that Mulan's total box office in the Chinese mainland could only reach $42 million, compared to other films like Tenet with $60 million and Chinese war epic: The Eight Hundred with $427 million.

The film only scored 4.7 on the Chinese movie review platform Douban, as well, contributing to the low earnings. According to most critics, the film failed to show the original Chinese story more accurately and attractively.

According to Shi Wenxue, a film critic, the movie "blended conventional settings of traditional Western fairy tales incompatible with Chinese historical stories. Disney failed to do enough research on non-Western elements and stories. Leading to many silly mistakes in the movie," he said.

Via Google

One critic said that the film comes off more like a European fantasy than a Chinese story. She also noted that most of the film’s crew are western, including the director, screenwriters, and costume designer. According to her, there is no single Chinese staff on the writing team.

In the film, Mulan from the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) lived in the earth building - a type of construction using raw earth invented only later year, during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Aside from that, the general in the movie was showed playing Taichi, which was only created in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368).

The film also presented the treatment of chi, also spelled qi in Chinese pinyin, erroneously. Chi is the traditional knowledge and idea of Chinese medicine and Martial Arts regarding an individual’s energy flow. But in Mulan, they depicted Chi as a magical power that the eponymous savior and hero possess. The magical power, however, is limited by dishonesty. This kept Mulan from realizing her full magical potential up until she removes her disguise as a man. Aside from the story, most viewers think that makeup and costume are ugly and historically inaccurate.

Similarly, a Chinese fantasy writer based in the United Kingdom said that the remake does not properly disseminates the narrative of China’s majority Han people that assimilates and excludes minorities including ethnic Mongolians, Tibetans, and Uighurs. “The mainland Chinese people aren’t the mainland Chinese viewers from 20 years ago,” she said of the lukewarm response.

A popular movie critic named Yun Feiyang, with more than 1.51 million followers on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo said that Mulan, instead of a Chinese story, Is more appropriate to be called a Disney princess story, such as Frozen.

Via Google

Aside from the previous criticism, calls to boycott the film grew after some of the scenes in the film were filmed in Xinjiang, where widespread rights abuses against the region’s Muslim population have been documented.

Likewise, Mulan also got a backlash everywhere against lead actress Liu Yifei. The actress posted on the popular social media Weibo, supporting Hong Kong’s police during the tumultuous and occasionally violent protests. Activists and protesters have accused the police of using force and brutality. In response to the post, supposed to be viewers promised to boycott the film and started posting on Twitter using the hashtag #BoycottMulan, which trended week as the movie debuted online.

It is not the only reason for the film’s box-office failure. Big cinemas were explicitly instructed not to release movies during the Lunar New Year period - reserving most slots for mainland fare as the country celebrated its 50th anniversary this year.

Though the movie may perform poorly in the Chinese mainland, the projected gross of the movie is still much better in the overseas markets, experts said. Mulan is one of Disney’s most expensive live-action remakes with a budget of US$200 million. Despite that, Disney is still hoping that people will still want to see the film when theatres open after the pandemic. China has been the only major economy that has rapidly and efficiently recovered.

The company also released the film on its Disney + streaming platform. Viewers can watch the film at home for an additional $30 on top of their $7 subscription.