La Ron S. Readus
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Is Mulan on Disney Plus Worth The Cost? (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2020-08-10 20:00:02 +0000 UTC
Y’know, one of these days I’m just gonna snatch the Band-Aid off and just make a segment called “Why is Disney Like this??”
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Readers, it’s no secret that I don’t really care that much for how Disney is handling its live-action remake for Mulan
/Not only did they eliminate Li Shang’s character and create a new love interest from scratch so that they could lower the chances of there being any queer undertones within it like in the animated movie, which was a VERY similar strategy Warner Brothers and New Line used with the relationship between Bilbo and Thorin in The Hobbit trilogy after seeing and being made fun of the undertones present between Frodo and Sam in the Lord of the Rings trilogy
/But considering the time in which the movie was both initially filmed and scheduled to be released, combined with major studios seeing the Chinese box office as what makes or breaks a film’s potential as a blockbuster, the entire production just REEKS of anti-Hong Kong propaganda to me/
Honestly, the only thing that interested me about the Mulan remake was the creative decision to add more magic and supernatural elements to the story in the form of Gong Li’s shapeshifting witch Xian Lang, in order to make it a more unique experience rather than Disney’s recent strategy of just making slight adjustments to the original animated stories and betting everything on just nostalgia alone.
Plus, the fact that the real life legend of Mulan is such a grab-bag of variants to begin with makes the semi-realistic take the animated movie made and the fantasy-rooted take of the live-action movie, both quasi-accurate in their faithfulness to it in a weird way.
/So when Disney decided to hold off on releasing the live-action remake of Mulan shortly after having its world premiere due to the current health and safety crisis, I wasn’t necessarily losing sleep over it./ Variety - Mulan
I figured that if they REALLY really wanted that Chinese box office money, Disney knows to be patient enough to wait until things are under control over there so that they can release it and make they money
Can’t say the same thing about Warner Brothers anxiousness in wanting to release Tenet traditionally, but that’s a topic for another video
But with the delay of Mulan state-side, a lot of people -- myself included, real talk -- just looked at Disney and went:
“But y’all got a whole ass streaming service, though. Y’all could just put it on there. You could do what you did with Onward and make it VOD for a while to make your state-side projections, then put it on Disney+ exclusively before the DVD and Blu-Ray releases. Why is this even an issue?”
Turns out, Disney were fully aware of what they could do with both the movie and Disney+ after how they handled Disney/Pixar’s Onward
/Because in August of 2020, Disney announced that the live-action Mulan movie WILL be heading EXCLUSIVELY to Disney+ in September, but with an additional one-time fee of $30/ Insider - Mulan
(Pauses) 30 dollars...
(Takes a deep breath) Okay.
In a way, I can kinda see where they’re coming from. Now that they have a platform of their own, Disney wants to cut out the middle man as much as possible
No Amazon In-Theater rentals or purchases, no Google Play or iTunes. It’s Strictly Disney.
It’s a way of assuring they get the max amount of profits by only making it available on a platform they have full control over
But I feel that Disney didn’t read the room when they both set the price, and made the decision to make it exclusively Disney+
You see, as of 2019, because good luck getting a number for 2020, bruh
The average cost of a movie ticket in the United States was just under $10.
If the current health and safety crisis didn’t impact us the way it did, and -- let’s just be honest -- if the problematic people of this nation took this situation seriously, that average price for the year 2020 would’ve probably reached $9.50 by the end of the year
And ever since Trolls World Tour proved that VOD was an option a good chunk of people across the nation were into -- especially for those with kids and families
Options of releasing movies like it and Onward through the likes of Amazon, Google and iTunes began to get more and more popular
The only thing about those options however, is that not only are your options for watching them broader than the parameters for the ones Disney+ mandated for the Mulan remake, but also better reflect the average cost of a movie ticket
Because BUYING a newly released digital movie on Amazon, iTunes or Google is roughly the same cost on every platform: between $15-$20
Amazon and Trolls World Tour -- one of the movies that started this situation -- is a good example to explain this situation.
Depending on the demand for the movie, the rentals for movies that would technically still be in theaters during the time of their release on the platform would range from 7-20 dollars
$20 being a newly released movie like Trolls World Tour when it was initially released, and $7 being a movie nearing the end of what would be its theatrical run before heading to home video.
That $20 rental tag for a newly released movie is still $10 cheaper than the Disney+ prime price for Mulan.
And in the case of Trolls World Tour, that $20 rental tag was then converted to a $20 purchase tag, once it was made available to purchase for home video via Amazon, and $6 for a 48-hour rental in order to match said transition.
So as long as they either had a Kindle, or access to the Prime Video app on a Firestick, an android tablet, phone, a streaming box like a Roku or a Chromecast, the family who bought Trolls World would have immediate access to it -- for both on and offline viewing -- without the need of a subscription. Because it was PAID FOR.
And both Google and iTunes utilize similar methods
Plus, there’s also the factor that upon waiting for the home release, the distribution of DVDs and Blu-Rays for Trolls World Tour and other movies that were given the same treatment have remained unaffected by the current health and safety crisis, and are still some of the best options when it comes to rewatchability...
True freedom to watch it anywhere with digital download codes included in the purchase of certain editions...
And tons of extra features provided in said certain editions that help justify the price of spending the same amount on a physical copy, as opposed to just buying a digital version off of the aforementioned services for the various prices associated with the movie.
Now with that being said, let’s look at how Disney is handling the live-action Mulan remake
While yes, a family could justify paying $30 in comparison to finding the cheapest way possible to go to a theater to watch the movie -- depending on how many children they have or people they’d bring -- and would find the price tag as worthwhile as the $15 or $20 one from their competitors. However, Mulan’s exclusivity would cost them more in the long run
Why? Because in order for you to not only make this one-time $30 purchase of Mulan, you MUST be subscribed to Disney+ and continue to BE subscribed to the service, if you wish to have continuous access to it.
So here’s some context (Clasps hands). Some people are paying 7 bucks a month for Disney+, which totals to about 84 bucks a year on a month-to-month plan, give or take.
Others, like me, decided to go for the one-time discounted year price of 70 bucks.
So in reality, Disney is asking you to purchase 1 movie -- and probably JUST the movie -- for roughly the same price of the Blu-Ray equivalent of it -- if not a bit more, because the non-4K ones range between $15-$25 nowadays...
That traditionally comes with extra features such as various behind-the-scenes documentaries of the movie, digital downloads to watch it any and everywhere, and various video quality specs that justify the price.
But in order for you to continue to have access to said movie after paying Blu-Ray prices -- if not $5 to $15 more -- for said digital product
You must continue to either pay $7 a month, or $70 a year, for a Disney+ subscription. Because that will be the only place it is available
Also, did they even factor in the eventual home release of Mulan? Is it just never gonna be available on the platform straight-up after it’s “theatrical release” is done and the Blu-Rays and DVDs are available at Target & shit?
Are the ones who paid $30 for the premium version gonna be rewarded new content to justify the price and the loss of exclusive bragging rights if they DO put the movie on the platform properly?
Do you see the problem here???
Thankfully, according to the newly appointed Disney CEO Bob Chapek,
/Mulan is the only movie that Disney is testing this format on. But are looking to see how this does as far as bringing traffic to Disney+, and there’s a market of people with the service willing give this premium video on demand model of theirs a shot/ Disney - Insider 1
Which means at least as of right now, the Black Widow movie won’t be following this same formula. Y’know, for...those of you who still care about the Black Widow movie...
But considering that there are just so many different ways of going about this that can wield the same results, if not better...
/And not just act as a way to try and recoup as much money Disney lost from the current health and safety crisis as possible/ Disney - Insider 2
I feel that they need to go back to the drawing board on this one...?
There are just so many factors that Disney didn’t take into consideration when making this decision.
And considering the explanation of how everything is supposed to work with the plan they set up, it just feels like they first and foremost care about recouping lost profits and realized that they have a way to exploit their own system in order to do so.
Man (pauses). And you thought I wasn’t gonna pay to watch this movie BEFORE...
But, I digress, Readers. Your homework assignment for the day:
Write in the comment section how you feel about this experimental and potentially EXPENSIVE decision for a premium video on demand service for Disney+ if you use the service.
Do you like what you’re seeing, do you feel it needs more work? I’d LOVE to know your thoughts!
