Disney Developing Live-Action 'Mulan'



On the heels of the magical success of Disney's live-action Cinderella, the studio is eyeing another live-action retelling: Mulan.

Disney bought a script by writing team Elizabeth Martin and Lauren Hynek that centers on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, the female warrior who was the main character in Disney's 1998 animated film.

Chris Bender and J.C. Spink (We're the Millers) are producing the new project.

The 1998 film, directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, followed a young woman who disguises herself as a man so she can take her father's place in the army and go to war. With the help of her trusty dragon sidekick Mushu, she becomes a skilled warrior and, eventually, one of the country's greatest heroines. It earned $304.3 million worldwide, earned Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations and resulted in a 2005 direct-to-DVD sequel, Mulan II.

Disney has been on a roll with its live-action versions of its classic animated films. Cinderella, starring Lily James, has earned $336.2 million worldwide to date since hitting theaters three weeks ago. In 2010, the reimagined Alice in Wonderland grossed a staggering $1.02 billion and when Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie as the iconic villainess, opened in May 2014, it went on to earn a stunning $758.4 million worldwide.

Disney is also making a live-action retelling of Beauty and the Beast, starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens. Audra McDonald just joined the cast of the project, which will be directed by Bill Condon. It hits theaters on March 17, 2017. And in 2016 Disney will release a new version of The Jungle Book and the sequel to Alice in Wonderland. Finally, a live-action version of Dumbo, which will be helmed by Tim Burton, is also in the works.

Writing team Martin and Hynek met in high school, among other projects, have written for the Know Theatre of Cincinnati and rewrote a script for Amazon Studios.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Chinese actress Liu Yifei, also known as Crystal Liu, is set to play the lead in the live-action adaptation directed by Niki Caro.
After a yearlong worldwide search, Mulan has been found.



Chinese actress Liu Yifei, also known as Crystal Liu, is set to star as the title woman warrior in Disney's live-action adaptation of the classic Chinese tale.

A team of casting directors visited five continents and saw nearly 1,000 candidates for the role, which requires credible martial arts skills, the ability to speak English and the most ineffable requirement of all: star quality. In deference to cultural accuracy, the studio focused on locating an ethnically Chinese young woman to play Hua Mulan, who disguised herself as a man to take her father's army conscription in 5th century China.

In Liu, Disney found the complete package. Nicknamed "Fairy Sister" by the Chinese public for her pure and innocent looks and image, she has been one of the country's most popular actresses of the current generation since breaking out with a series of hit television dramas in the mid-2000s, while she was still a teenager enrolled in the Beijing Film Academy. Liu is fluent in English, having lived in Queens, N.Y., for part of her childhood, and acted in English in both 2008's The Forbidden Kingdom, alongside Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and 2014's Outcast, opposite Nicolas Cage and Hayden Christensen. She also starred opposite Emile Hirsch in Danish auteur Bille August's period romance The Chinese Widow, which opened the Shanghai International Film Festival in June.

Liu, who has served as a brand ambassador for Dior, Tissot, Garnier and Pantene, most recently starred in the fantasy romance Once Upon a Time, which earned $82.3 million in China this summer. Her other credits include 2012's The Assassins, which earned Liu her first major acting award (at the Macau International Movie Festival), Never Gone and The Four trilogy. She recently signed with WME and continues to be repped by Chinese manager David Chen.

Niki Caro, who most recently helmed The Zookeeper’s Wife, is directing Disney's live-action Mulan, which is being produced by Chris Bender, Jason Reed and Jake Weiner and eyeing a 2019 release. The 1998 animated version, voice-starring Ming-Na Wen alongside Eddie Murphy and B.D. Wong, earned $304.3 million worldwide as well as Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations.

Source: THR

will there be musical singing and dancing?

No Mushu? I thought all along there was... 😟 Looks like a more serious take on the animated version. Hopefully they retain the musical numbers.

I don't think there will be any singing. Only instrumental music. No mushu and cricket too. I doubt it will be very successful in Asia as it will be just another kungfu/wuxia movie done countless time before. Maybe to the Americans, they will be impressed similar like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

I don't think there will be any singing. Only instrumental music. No mushu and cricket too. I doubt it will be very successful in Asia as it will be just another kungfu/wuxia movie done countless time before. Maybe to the Americans, they will be impressed similar like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

Live-action remakes should RETAIN what made the animated version great. I know live-action adaptations tend to be more realistic but when I was a kid, I loved the animated due to the musical numbers and Mushu/cricket. They could have easily have done it (CGI obviously)...

Disney still hiding the 2 secret weapon from the trailer. DY+JL...

i think they're remaking the movie, meaning not taking from animated piece but directly from the old story itself (more grounded and serious but with a touch of disney)
but there was a previous mulan movie from china as well, that is also serious type war movie