Disney indefinitely postpones Mulan and pushes back the release of new Star Wars and Avatar movies as coronavirus pandemic continues. Disney announced this decision on Thursday, July 23, 2020. The company stated reason for the indefinitely delay was to avoid constantly rescheduled the movie’s release. Disney has had to reschedule the release of Mulan four times this is an understandable decision. Disney in addition to indefinitely postpones Mulan has also pushed back the release of many of its other films. Two specific examples are the new Star Wars trilogy and the upcoming Avatar sequels. Disney has pushed the release date on each film sets by one year.
Reason
Disney indefinitely postpones Mulan for several reasons. First it is trying to avoid additional advertising costs associated with rescheduling the release date. Every time Disney has to reschedule the release date has to make small modifications to its existing trailers. After Disney makes these changes it needs to redistribute the trailers to the various outlets and vendors that release them. While the changes are minor such as modifying the date, the cost does add up. Disney having had to modify updates their trailers and other promotional material three.
Additionally, their decision to postpone Mulan indefinitely was announced hours after AMC theaters stated they would postpone their US opening. AMC was expected to reopen its US theaters on July 30, 2020. Their decision to postpone the US reopening has thrown many movie releases plans into chaos not just Mulan. AMC’s decision to delay the reopening of their US theaters no sense. Especially when approximately one third of the European and Middle Eastern theaters have reopened and are running normally.
Regardless, Disney indefinitely postpones Mulan has percent of the company with two options regarding releasing the film to worldwide audiences. Disney’s first option is to simply hold off on releasing Mulan until enough movie theaters re-open. The downside with this decision is that there are no definite points when the theaters will reopen. However, Disney’s other option is to release the film directly onto Disney+. The downside with this option is that it will only reach audiences who have Disney+.