Mulan (2020 film)

Mulan is a 2020 American musical fantasy comedy-drama adventure film released by Walt Disney Pictures with a co-production of Legendary Pictures, Scott Free Productions and Jason T. Reed Productions. Directed by Ridley Scott with a screenplay written by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, John Logan and William Monahan, it is based on the 1998 animated film of the same name which was loosely based on The Ballad of Mulan by Gao Maoqian and stars Yifei Liu, Ross Butler, D. L. Hughley, François Chau, Benedict Wong, Jacob Batalon, Sung Kang, Daniel Dae Kim, Michelle Yeoh, Lisa Lu, Ken Jeong, Chow Yun-fat, and Min Tanaka. The film takes place in Ancient China where Hua Mulan has to join the Emperor's army by impersonating a soldier with the help of Mushu the former guardian dragon, Cri-Kee the cricket, Khan the horse, Yao, Chien Po, Ling, and Captain Li Shang from the attacks of Shan Yu, leader of the Huns, who tries to conquer all of China.

Plans for a live-action remake began in 2010 but the project stalled in development hell for most of the decade. On March 30, 2015, Disney hired Jurassic World writers Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Gladiator writer John Logan and Kingdom of Heaven writer William Monahan to write the screenplay for the remake. On February 14, 2017, Ridley Scott was hired to directed following Gladiator, Prometheus, and The Martian. Filming took place in China and New Zealand from August to November 2018. Songwriters Matthew Wilder and David Zippel, who worked on the original's soundtrack, returned to compose the songs while Hans Zimmer was hired to compose the score with vocals by Lisa Gerrard who worked together on Gladiator and Mission: Impossible 2 in 2000.

Mulan premiered in El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on March 4, 2020. Following the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the film was pushed back from March 27 to September 4. It was finally released in the United States on September 4, 2020 simultaneously in theaters and digitally through Disney+ with its Premier Access subscription while in the RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, ScreenX and IMAX formats. The film received generally positive reviews from critics who praised Scott's direction, cinematography, screenplay, musical score, performances (particularly Liu, Butler, Hughley, Chau, Wong, Batalon, Kang, Jeong, and Tanaka), songs, visual effects, action sequences, and faithfulness to the source material, although the plot, runtime and Mushu's design received its criticism. It grossed $650 million worldwide during its theatrical run and became a commercial and box-office success, breaking several box-office records. It also became the highest-grossing film of 2020 and received nominations for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy and Original Song categories at the 78th Golden Globe Awards and 26th Critics Choice Awards. The film was also released on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on November 10, 2020 which includes both the theatrical and extended director's versions.