Today In Disney History ~ June 19th
Mulan is a 1998 American animated musical action-comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan. Disney’s 36th animated feature, it was directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, with story by Robert D. San Souci and screenplay by Rita Hsiao, Philip LaZebnik, Chris Sanders, Eugenia Bostwick-Singer, and Raymond Singer. Ming-Na, Eddie Murphy, Miguel Ferrer and B. D. Wong star in the English version, while Jackie Chan provided the voice of Captain Li Shang for the Chinese dubs of the film. The film’s plot takes place during the Han dynasty, where Fa Mulan, daughter of aged warrior Fa Zhou, impersonates a man to take her father’s place during a general conscription to counter a Hun invasion.
Released during the Disney Renaissance, Mulan was the first of three features produced primarily at the Disney animation studio at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida. Development for the film began in 1994, when a number of artistic supervisors were sent to China to receive artistic and cultural inspiration. Mulan was well received by critics and the public, grossing $304 million, earning Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, and winning several Annie Awards including Best Animated Feature. A 2004 direct-to-video sequel, Mulan II, followed.
Because of the disappointing box office performances of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Hercules, Disney restricted its marketing campaign for Mulan spending $30 million on promotional advertisements compared to more than $60 million for Hercules the year before. Instead of the lavish media event premieres of Pocahontas in Central Park and the electric light parade on Fifth Avenue for Hercules, Disney opted to premiere the film at the Hollywood Bowl complete with Chinese lanterns and fortune cookies.
The film was first released on VHS on February 2, 1999 as part of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection line. That year, the film was released on DVD as part of the Limited Issues line. In 2000, it was released on DVD as part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection line. The second DVD release entered moratorium on January 31, 2002. On October 26, 2004, Walt Disney Home Entertainment released Mulan on DVD as a 2-disc Special Edition.
In March 2013, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released Mulan and Mulan II on Blu-ray and DVD to coincide with the film’s 15th anniversary.
Mulan’s opening weekend box office gross revenues were $22.8 million, making it
the second-highest grossing movie that week, behind only The X-Files. It went on to gross $120 million in the U.S. and Canada combined, and $304 million worldwide, making it the second-highest grossing family film of the year, behind A Bug’s Life, and the seventh-highest grossing film of the year overall.
You can purchase your own copy of Disney’s Mulan on DVD on Amazon!
Michele also contributes theme park news for Fox 35 Orlando 11pm news and on the radio on WDBO.
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