Action-packed new Mulan trailer advertises “Premier Access” Disney+ release

My anticipation levels for Disney’s upcoming live-action adaptation of Mulan is well documented on this site. See I don’t really care much for cute sing-alongs and fairy tale princess dancing with anthropomorphized animals or homeware which is why most of Disney’s other recent live-action adaptations didn’t really entice me (though I will admit I enjoyed Aladdin waaaay more than I expected to). I do care for great wuxia action choreography though. And Mulan definitely has a whole lot of that.

While director Niki Caro is mostly known for her work in drama, the filmmaker has seemingly really embraced some classic martial arts action. At least according to the film’s trailers, with a brand new one really doubling down on all the ass-kicking that star Yifei Liu will be doing. Check it out below.

There’s more than just cool action in that trailer though. As we recently learned, Disney finally decided on a release strategy for Mulan after the continuing COVID-19 pandemic had caused the studio to first delay and remove the film from its release calendar, before eventually making the historic announcement that it will be debuting on Disney+ for an additional fee on top of the existing $7 monthly subscription fee to the streaming service. And now we know that this extra cost of $29.99 is being billed as “Premier Access”, according to this trailer. Disney has said that this is a once-off approach for Mulan given the unexpected circumstances of this year, but the fact that they’ve already coined a term for this approach tells me that this will probably be something they explore for more movies in the future if this experiment turns out to be a success.

The problem, of course, is that Disney+ still needs to roll out to several countries, including South Africa. In these areas, Disney still needs to have theatrical releases and the studio just secured a major one as it announced on its official Weibo social media account (via Variety) that the release of Mulan in China has now finally been approved. A release date still has to be locked down, but this is a big step forward in the world’s second-largest movie market which has been one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As for us here in South Africa, Mulan is currently scheduled for release on 11 September (a week after the Disney+ release), but right now it’s anybody’s guess if that will actually still happen.

Mulan also stars Donnie Yen, Jason Scott Lee, Yoson An, Gong Li, and Jet Li. Here’s the official synopsis:

When the Emperor of China issues a decree that one man per family must serve in the Imperial Army to defend the country from Northern invaders, Hua Mulan, the eldest daughter of an honored warrior, steps in to take the place of her ailing father. Masquerading as a man, Hua Jun, she is tested every step of the way and must harness her inner-strength and embrace her true potential. It is an epic journey that will transform her into an honored warrior and earn her the respect of a grateful nation- and a proud father.

Last Updated: August 13, 2020