9 Recent Movies Sent Out To Die

Disney's live-action adaptation of its 1998 animated classic was fraught with problems. The same could be said of the cartoon, but the live-action adaptation was a different animal, having been stuck in development hell since 2010.

Filming began in 2018, and it was set for a March 2020 release, which Disney pushed back at the last minute. Like other feature films slated to release in 2020, Mulan was delayed, and then its wide theatrical release was canceled.

Not only that, but Disney was receiving flack over two issues related to the movie. The first was star Yifei Liu's comments about pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong (she came out on the side of the China-backed government). The second was related to where Mulan was filmed, as it was the same region where "re-education" camps held upwards of one million Uighurs.

Disney had a major problem on its hands at that point, so it opted to release the movie digitally on its platform for $30. That was in addition to Disney+'s subscription fee, which led to more calls for boycotts from angry subscribers. Ultimately, it received a theatrical release but bombed in China.

It likely made some money in VOD sales, but odds are, Disney lost millions over its release of Mulan after angering just about every demographic that mattered, so it might have been best to let it sit for a while before releasing.