Disney Postpones ‘Mulan’ Release Again Amid Coronavirus Uptick

The theatrical release of Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan has once again been postponed as states continue to see a significant uptick in coronavirus cases, endangering the anticipated reopening of movie theater chains.

Mulan was originally scheduled to open on March 27th before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in America forced the film to relocate to July 24th. However, as the number of coronavirus cases continues to soar in the U.S. — and as major cities like New York and Los Angeles haven’t yet approved the reopening of multiplexes — Disney opted to push back the film again, this time to August 21st.

“While the pandemic has changed our release plans for Mulan and we will continue to be flexible as conditions require, it has not changed our belief in the power of this film and its message of hope and perseverance,” Disney’s co-chairman and chief creative officer Alan Horn and co-chairman Alan Bergman said in a statement (via Variety).

“Director Niki Caro and our cast and crew have created a beautiful, epic, and moving film that is everything the cinematic experience should be, and that’s where we believe it belongs — on the world stage and the big screen for audiences around the globe to enjoy together.

As Variety notes, Mulan is also expected to be a box office hit in China, where movie theaters are still closed due to the lingering pandemic.

Hollywood had hoped that Mulan and Christopher Nolan’s Tenet would herald both the return of the summer movie season and the reopening of movie theaters, with their respective studios giving the films July release dates. However, Tenet also recently pushed back its July 17th release date to July 31st and now, tentatively, to August 12th.

On Friday, Bill & Ted Face the Music was similarly postponed, from August 14th to August 28th.