Disney is fast-tracking its update on Mulan. The movie now has a November 2, 2018 release date.
Also announced today: The Mulan script will get a rewrite from husband-wife duo Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, whose credits include Jurassic World and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Variety and THR reports of the Disney announcement made a point of mentioning that a Chinese actress will be cast in the role, and a global casting search is underway to find the actress for the part. This follows a preemptive petition recently launched called Tell Disney You Don”t Want a Whitewashed Mulan! that has over 100,000 signatures.
Ming-Na Wen voiced Mulan in the 1998 movie. She”s now starring on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and has a voice role in new Disney XD series Milo Murphy”s Law.
No word on whether they”ll attempt a live-action version of Mushu that”ll have to live up to Eddie Murphy”s voice performance. (Kenneth Branagh did get Gus Gus talking – sort of – in his live-action Cinderella, so you never know.)
Mulan is among about a dozen reportedly in-the-works reinterpretations of animated classics at Disney, following the box office success of The Jungle Book and Cinderella. The studio just announced a new take on The Lion King last week. A movie at Sony based on the Chinese ballad of the legendary warrior Hua Mulan is also in the works.