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Critics Are Calling the New ‘Mulan’ Disney’s ‘Best Live-Action Remake’


Disney’s highly anticipated live-action remake of Mulan hits theaters on March 27, and if early reviews are any indication, it may just be one of the best movies of the year.

The film’s Los Angeles premiere went down on Monday, March 9, and from the looks of Twitter, critics dug it. Like, really dug it. As in, some are saying it’s Disney’s best-ever live-action remake. That’s quite the compliment, seeing as how Disney is rebooting just about every single one of its classic animated films.

Movie journalists are shouting out the film’s star, Yifei Liu, and director, Niki Caro, specifically. “I’ve seen MULAN twice now and I must say it is grrrreat,” Yahoo! Entertainment’s Kevin Polowy tweeted. “Easily Disney’s best live action reboot. I think it’s also Disney’s first battle epic? It is beautiful & absorbing & rich & empowering. The cast is excellent and Niki Caro’s direction is just breathtaking.”

Mashable’s deputy entertainment editor Angie J. Han added, “#Mulan is the best of the Disney live-action remakes since Cinderella—I didn’t even miss the songs. Finds new notes in a story we already know while delivering gorgeous action, heart, and humor. Liu Yifei is ??.”

See some more reactions from industry people who have checked out the movie, below.

Pop singer Hayley Kiyoko also saw the movie in advance—and loved it. “I LOVEEDDDD MULAN!!!!! It’s very different but it’s just as good I promise!!! So empowering and so important for the newer generations to see it,” she tweeted.

Fans of the 1998 animated movie were sad to hear that this live-action remake wouldn’t be a musical (though Caro did tell BuzzFeed the original music will be honored in a “significant” way). On this decision, Mulan producer Jason Reed told Collider, “It will not be traditional ‘break into musical’ [songs]. They’re not going to stop their workouts to do a big musical number to camera. However, there are a number of songs that are iconic for the movie and tell a great version of the story, and they are very helpful to us in how we’re putting the movie together.”

He continued, “It gets a little easier in animation to keep the tension and the reality in place and still have people break into song and sing to camera. We made the decision that we wanted to keep the world—even though it’s a fantasy—more grounded, more realistic so those emotions really played and the threat is very real. So we are using music in a slightly different way.”

It seems this movie is superb, music or no music. I can’t wait to check it out.



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Every Disney Live-Action Movie Currently in the Works


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The arrival of Disney’s new streaming platform, Disney+, has absolutely everyone buzzing. And rightfully so: The service includes so many of your childhood favorites, including princess flicks like Cinderella and Aladdin, Disney Channel TV shows, and Disney Channel Original Movies. And Disney’s slate of live-action remakes, like Beauty and the Beast, is also now available on the streaming platform. (See a full guide here.)

Even more exciting is the fact that Disney has so many more live-action films in the works, which means it’s only a matter of time before those hit theaters and, eventually, Disney+. Here’s a list of every Disney live-action movie—some we’ve seen, some are coming soon, and a few are still in the rumor phase.

What we’ve seen already

101 Dalmatians

When: 1996

Starring: Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil, Jeff Daniels, Joely Richardson, Hugh Laurie

The Takeaway: Puppies on puppies on puppies = live-action gold.

Alice in Wonderland

When: 2010

Starring: Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway

The Takeaway: The fantastical film was a match made in Disney heaven with director Tim Burton’s quirky style—evidenced by its spot as Burton’s most successful film ever.

Maleficent

When: 2014

Starring: Angelina Jolie as Maleficent, Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora

The Takeaway: Disney-princess stories—even ones told from the dark side—make for mega-box office success (Maleficent helped Disney reach its most successful year ever in 2014).

Cinderella

When: 2015

Starring: Lily James, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Richard Madden

The Takeaway: See above. Cinderella has raked in more than $400 million worldwide (and counting).

The Jungle Book

When: 2016

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Idris Elba, Bill Murray, Christopher Walken, Lupita Nyong’o

The Takeaway: CGI is an incredible innovation.

Beauty and the Beast

When: 2017

Starring: Emma Watson as Belle, Emma Thompson, Josh Gad, Luke Evans, Dan Stevens

The Takeaway: Emma Watson as Belle—’nuff said. (Audiences agreed.)

Christopher Robin,

When: 2018

Starring: Hayley Atwell, Ewan McGregor

Tke Takeaway: So many feels.

Mary Poppins

When: 2018



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The First Trailer for Disney's Live-Action 'Mulan' Is Here


On Sunday (July 7), Disney gifted us with our first trailer for Mulan, the latest chapter in their run of live-action remakes of their classic films. And while we’ve just gotten Aladdin in theaters, and we’re waiting for the releases of The Lion King (July 19!) and The Little Mermaid (and following all of the developments along the way), fans are still pretty excited from the one-minute, 30-second look they got at Mulan—judging by the subsequent tweets, that is.

If you haven’t watched Disney’s 1998 animated version Mulan for the better part of two decades, it follows the story of a young woman who dresses as a man in order to take her older father’s place in the Chinese army after the emperor conscripts one man per household to fight—and she becomes a legendary warrior in the process. The plot is based on the Ballad of Mulan, which dates back to China’s Northern and Southern dynasties (between 420 and 589), and it’s a story that’s been retold in film many times, including in an award-winning 2009 version called Rise of Mulan by a Chinese studio that brought more realism to the tale.

The glimpse of the upcoming Disney live-action remake, out in 2020, opens with Mulan riding a horse across a field, then cuts to her family announcing that the matchmaker has found an auspicious match for her. She’s clearly not super-thrilled about it, but her dad says that it’s what’s best for the family. The teaser then goes on to split scenes between her training as a warrior and her training to be a “good wife,” as a character says, ultimately ending with her doing some serious damage on the battlefield.

The actress starring as Mulan in the live-action remake, Liu Yifei, reportedly beat out more than 1,000 other actresses for the role, according to Newsweek. And it seems like this version is going to be a little less Disney-ified than the original, as one Twitter user pointed out—hence the lack of Mushu and singing in the teaser.

And let’s just say fans are pretty excited about their first glimpse:

Watch the whole thing below—and start counting down until March 27, 2020:

[embedded content]





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Melissa McCarthy Is Reportedly Playing Ursula in Disney's Live-Action 'The Little Mermaid'—And Twitter Has Thoughts


Disney’s continuing with their live-action remakes of favorite animated classics—most recently Aladdin, currently in theaters, as well as The Lion King, starring Beyoncé and Donald Glover and set to come out July 19. Also on the slate? A revival of The Little Mermaid, which will likely have a similarly star-studded cast. Of course, people are watching closely to find out who’s going to be playing their favorite characters from the original 1989 film, and one reported potential casting is spurring some conversation on Twitter. According to Variety on Friday, Melissa McCarthy is in “early talks” to play the very memorable Ursula, and while a lot of people are thrilled—she’s hilarious, after all!—others on Twitter have some thoughts about it.

Some bring up the point that in the original Disney film, Ursula was inspired by the late drag queen Divine—so for Disney to skip picking an LGBTQ+ actor or drag queen for the role is to miss an opportunity for greater representation, especially with the news coming at the end of Pride Month. (Although inspired by Divine, Ursula was originally voiced in the 1989 movie by Pat Carroll, a cisgender white woman.) Top names on Twitter for the casting include Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt‘s Tituss Burgess, Danielle Brooks, TS Madison, and pop singer Lizzo, who has been a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race and is a strong ally of the LGBTQ+ community.

Lizzo actually posted an audition video for the film last year to Twitter.

She reacted to the news of McCarthy’s reported casting with the pleading face emoji:

A lot of people would also really, really like Ginger Minj, a runner-up on season seven of RuPaul’s Drag Race, to play Ursula.

She had her thoughts about the news, too:

Another Twitter favorite for the role is Tituss Burguss:

Like Lizzo, he basically already has an audition tape:

[embedded content]

We’re still waiting to hear about the rest of the casting, but last October, Zendaya responded to rumors that she’d been offered the role of Ariel. “It’s just the rumor, so we will see,” she told People at the time, adding that The Little Mermaid had been one of her favorite movies as a little kid.

As far as what we know about the rest of the movie, a few details have been finalized: Per Variety, Mary Poppins Returns director Rob Marshall is leading the project, and Lin-Manuel Miranda is working on some new songs for the movie with the first movie’s original songwriter, Alan Menken. (Don’t worry, the classic songs will still be in there too.)

Of course, nothing about casting Ursula is set in stone yet. According to Variety, no final decisions have been made, and no contracts have been signed—so we’ll have to wait and see.



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Here's Your Epic First Look at the *Mulan* Live-Action Remake


The first pic from Disney’s upcoming live-action adaptation of Mulan is here. Released on Monday (August 13), it features Liu Yifei in character as Mulan, dressed in a red coat and brandishing a sword.

According to a press release, per ComicBook.com, production began this week, with the cast and crew filming in New Zealand and China. There’s also a release date, so mark your calendars: The live-action Mulan will land in theaters on March 27, 2020.

Directed by Niki Caro, Mulan will also star Donnie Yen, Jascon Scott Lee, Yoson An, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Ron Yuan, Tzi Ma, Rosalind Chao, Chen Pei-Pei, Nelson Lee, Chum Ehelepola, Gong Li, and Jet Li, according to the press release. As Teen Vogue previously reported, the new Mulan will depart somewhat from its source material. In addition to replacing Li Shang with a new love interest, Chen Honghui, played by Yoson An, the film will also feature a witch as a villain and a pair of con-artists.

Disney’s Mulan was first released in June 1998 and went on to gross over $300 million worldwide. The animated film has an impressive 86 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“The budget and the location and the story is offering such scope to me for [an] incredible, muscular piece of girly martial arts extravaganza in China. And I can’t wait,” Caro told Screen Crush in March 2017 when asked about the Mulan remake.

Later that month, she clarified reports the Mulan remake wouldn’t include music. “The live-action is based on that inspirational Chinese ballad and on the animated Disney classic. We’re still exploring the role that music’s going to play in it, but for sure there will be music,” she said at the time.

Related Stories:

Disney’s Mulan Casts Chinese Actress Liu Yifei in Live-Action Film

Disney Is Bringing Classic Princess Movies Back to Theaters

The Mulan Remake Will Be Directed by a Woman





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It's Official: Beyoncé Will Play Nala In The Live-Action Lion King


On Wednesday, Disney casually announced the full cast for its upcoming live-action adaptation of the beloved animated classic, The Lion King, and it includes none other than—ring the alarm!—Beyoncé. We’d already learned back in February that James Earl Jones and Donald Glover would play key roles in the remake, but we were not prepared for how un-casual the rest of the cast would also be. Take a look at this insanely stacked group for yourself:

As this dream Instagram unveiling reveals, Beyoncé is set to play the lioness Nala, Simba’s best friend turned [SPOILER ALERT] wife. Meanwhile, Simba will be played by none other than Golden Globe Winner Donald Glover.

Other cast members include Keegan-Michael Key as Kamari, Florence Kasumba as Shenzi, JD McCrary as Young Simba, Shahadi Wright Joseph as Young Nala, John Kani as Rafiki, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, John Oliver as Zazu and Seth Rogan and Billy Eichner playing the lovable Pumbaa and Timon respectively. Oh, and of course the magnificent James Earl Jones will be reprising his role as Mufasa because, duh. Nobody could do it better.

Beyoncé fans (otherwise known as the Beyhive) understandably went nuts with the casting announcement and quickly took to Twitter to share in their excitement for both the film and what will ultimately be a fire soundtrack thanks to Beyoncé and Glover’s talents. Check out a few choice reactions from the ‘hive below.





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