The 1998 Disney animated film “Mulan”
was something of a landmark moment for the studio’s decade-spanning “Animated
Canon.” This was the first film to feature a female lead character that was
undoubtedly an “action girl,” a concept what would be visited years later with
the Pixar co-production “Brave.” Over two decades since its original release,
Disney is preparing to roll out a live-action adaptation for “Mulan” in the
vein of all their recent live movie remakes. While the actual premiere of the
film is still a few months off, new promotional material has been trickling
out, like this international poster.
Comic Book.com has it that Disney has just recently released a new
promotional poster of “Mulan” for international audiences. In cinematic
parlance that usually means a poster with visuals and text designed for the
Asian movie markets, particularly Japan. Indeed, this “Mulan” poster has
Japanese text for its blurb and credits. The top line heavily pushes the past
live-action treatments of the House of Mouse’s animated classics such as “Beauty
and the Beast” (2017) and “Aladdin” (2019). Now the majority of the poster is
given to awesome (CGI-enhanced) vistas with a close-up of the heroine herself,
played by Liu Yifei.
The first noticeable thing is
that Liu as Mulan is garbed in the vibrant red dress that was prominent in the
initial trailer for the movie released earlier this year. That was in the
scenes where she shot arrows and fought in a melee with the invading Mongol
warriors. She has her sword in her hand, but the reflection shows Mulan in her
assumed male identity, here called Hua Jun (rather than Fa Ping from the
animation). Images in the background include Mulan riding at the head of a
group of horsemen, and what appears to be a phoenix, rumored to be the
replacement spiritual guardian for the little dragon Mushu, voiced by Eddie
Murphy.
International #Mulan poster is incredible pic.twitter.com/0IfgPxleef— Chris Sylvia (@sylvioso) November 20, 2019
Along with Liu Yifei, “Mulan”
stars Donnie Yen, Yoson An, Gong Li and Jet Li as the Emperor of China, all under
director Nicki Caro. The movie is scheduled to release in the US on March 27,
although the international version features the Japanese premiere date of April
17 instead. The preview of this poster might hopefully take some of the sting
off the recent controversy regarding actress Liu’s public support for the Hong
Kong Police, which has been struggling with increasingly violent pro-democracy
protesters for six months now. Her opinion has spurred efforts from Hong Kong
to boycott “Mulan” when it arrives in Asia.
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