Of Disney’s seven (!) movies to make over $1 billion at the box office in 2019, two were live-action remakes of beloved animated features: The Lion King ($1.657 billion) and Aladdin ($1.051 billion). Disney also gave the “what if cartoons but REAL” treatment last year to Dumbo and Lady and the Tramp, and The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast, among others, in the years prior. Next up is Mulan, which, unlike the other remakes, is more of an action movie than musical. That explains why the Motion Picture Association of America slapped it with a PG-13 rating, a first for the live-action remakes.
Mulan, directed by Niki Caro, was rated inappropriate for children under 13 due to “sequences of violence,” because if there’s one thing 12 years old hate, it’s violence. It’s “the first title from Disney’s live action studio to receive PG-13 since Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales in 2017,” according to the Hollywood Reporter, which also notes that “modern times have proved that PG-13 rated features can still play well for families,” including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2.
Mulan will be an interesting test case for Disney, beyond the PG-13 rating: do audiences want a remake of a Disney Renaissance title that isn’t a shot-for-shot clone of the original? No matter the answer, there’s not many movies from that period left. But if the fate of a Tarzan remake, with new songs from Phil Collins (“Trashin’ the Camp… Again”), is dependent on Mulan‘s success, then I hope it makes $2 billion.
Mulan comes out on March 27, 2020.
(Via Hollywood Reporter)
