The most surprising thing about this latest news is that we hadn't heard anything about it sooner. Disney has found that simply taking their most popular animated hits and throwing a bunch of actual humans in them is a good way to make lots of money. Cinderella has done over $300M already, while Maleficent and Alice in Wonderland were both huge. With Dumbo and Beauty and the Beast already on the way, now you can add Mulan to the list.
Yep, Disney is developing a live-action version of Mulan, the 1998 animated princess film that was notable at the time for having an Asian lead character, voiced by Agents of SHIELD's Ming-Na Wen. The story is based on a Chinese legend about a young girl who poses as a man so she can fight in a war against the invading Hun army, rather than her elderly father who was actually the one drafted. The film did well, earning more than $300M worldwide, and spawned a straight-to-DVD sequel nobody liked.
This isn't the first time the idea of a Mulan film has been brought up. Some years ago Speed director Jan De Bont was set to direct Zhang Ziyi in a project that never got off the ground. Mulan's story was also told in epic fashion in 2009's award-winning Mulan: Rise of a Warrior.
While there's no director or cast in place yet, this Mulan will have a script by Elizabeth Martin and Lauren Hynek. Perhaps at some point Disney will take all of these remakes and have one giant crossover? [THR]
