After the announcement from Disney+ that in the US Mulan would be heading for the streaming service with a premium price on top of your monthly subscription it was only a matter of time before the same announcement was made for the UK. The issue with this? They are charging £28.99 for the pleasure!
This was causing the film to trend across Twitter yesterday and created quite a lot of debate surrounding families. Yes, Disney do aim for the family market but because I would have liked to have watched the film on my own I have been well and truly out priced with this ridiculous idea. Although given different offers and deals now at cinemas away from the Cineworld Unlimited or Odeon Limitless cards £28.99 could even be seen as too much for a family cinema trip.
Disney have really started something with this premier access and I really do feel for the film of Mulan which has probably been one of the worst hit by the Covid pandemic. The release date had constantly been pushed back and in all honesty I was still hopeful for a UK cinema release considering our cinemas have started opening from July. But I guess Disney realised that doing this would generate more income than the cinema box office.
Just wait? Well it seems that we all will eventually be able to watch it which could easily be six months down the line, which will be my choice now. Its quite typical as well considering this is the first live action remake from Disney that I have actually wanted to see. I only watched the animated Mulan earlier this year and think it actually looks to be rather different, I mean no talking dragon.
Considering VOD is nowhere near this expensive for films it certainly has priced out anyone who watches alone, like myself and so many other bloggers and film lovers that I know! The only other film in recent times to do similar in terms of a bigger price was Trolls: World Tour as that was just about to open when the cinemas closed. This was charged at £15.99 which I guess feels reasonable now? That was for a 48 hour rental. Mulan you will keep forever . . . Oh wait not if you cancel your Disney+ subscription.
Basically what I am getting at is that Disney have started something very different (and expensive) that if successful you can imagine other studios and companies thinking about a similar thing. Which makes me feel rather cheated from new releases, especially considering how much better it is to watch new films at the cinema. I guess that is a little bit of a different story, really everything that is happening in the US will dictate which films will open at the cinema and which ones will head to VOD.
How do you feel about this move from Disney and will you be "buying" Mulan? Which is actually more expensive than the new released physical media on 4K Ultra HD format! Which makes it even worse than you don't get a lovely physical copy that you can really keep forever.
