FILE PHOTO: A poster of the Walt Disney Studios’ “Mulan” movie, which was going to be released on March 27, towers over an empty Hollywood Boulevard during the global outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 31, 2020. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Walt Disney Co’s live-action version of “Mulan” will skip most of the world’s movie theaters and go directly to its streaming platform in September, the media giant said on Tuesday.
The decision follows uncertainty about when big movie theater chains in the United States will be able to reopen after being shuttered since mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Mulan” will cost a premium price of $29.99 on the Disney+ streaming service in the United States, Canada, Australia and parts of Western Europe, Disney’s chief executive, Bob Chapek, said on a call with investors after Disney reported quarterly earnings.
The movie, reported to have cost $200 million to produce, will be released Sept. 4 in movie theaters that do not currently have the Disney+ platform and where movie theaters are open, Chapek added.
“Mulan” had been scheduled to reach theaters in March, but its release has been postponed several times as many cinemas remain closed. Most recently, it was set to debut Aug. 21, and theater operators had hoped it would help spark a late-summer rebound for movie-going.
Last month Disney said it was postponing the debut of “Mulan” indefinitely while it assessed its options.
Reporting by Jill Serjeant and Lisa Richwine; Editing by Leslie Adler