Mulan is another in a long line of animated Disney classics being recreated in the live-action aesthetic, and ever since the first trailer dropped in early July, fans have been on the fence about the variations between the upcoming film and its predecessor – most notably the absence of Mushu, the lovable dragon sidekick originally voiced by Eddie Murphy.
But the movie’s now drawn a separate string of controversy, courtesy of some political comments regarding the Hong Kong police force made by its star, Liu Yifei. The Chinese island’s currently in the midst of several protests over the government’s proposed extradition bill, which would send alleged criminals to China to stand trial. As Yahoo Entertainment explains, “Hong Kong and China have co-existed as ‘one country, two systems,’ and will remain so until 2047, per the colonial British deal. If the bill passes, contextualizes the Guardian, there is potential for Chinese courts to rule with bias.”
Yifei entered the conversation on Weibo recently, a Chinese social media site similar to Twitter, expressing support for Hong Kong police, who’ve been accused of using excessive force on peaceful protesters. Since then, the hashtag #BoycottMulan has been populating online, and you can check out some of the disapproving tweets for yourself down below:
https://twitter.com/MariamWatt/status/1162345223558770693
I thought people were just overreacting at first but yikes. She really just fucked over that movie and all involved. The movie's budget was already rumored to be pretty large too. A simple recast won't fix this issue. They'd have to likely reshoot the entire film. #BoycottMulan pic.twitter.com/66R0ixqn8u
— ThunderGodKiyro770 (@TKiyro770) August 16, 2019
https://twitter.com/WinstonFloyd1/status/1162310399435296768
When you weren't going to see it but now you have a reason to. #BoycottMulan pic.twitter.com/DLGlhlo6FO
— Marco😰 (@fullmetal_marc0) August 16, 2019
https://twitter.com/pat_gabe/status/1162414862456315905
https://twitter.com/sekiro17446872/status/1162414815538642944
https://twitter.com/jakeriousb/status/1162414773490913280
https://twitter.com/sekiro17446872/status/1162414756319260672
Disney, who’s been quick to condemn the acts of their employees in the past, has yet to officially respond to Yifei’s comments, or to the fans’ fiery reactions. But given the fact that her co-star Gong Li has been quoted as saying that this is the House of Mouse’s most expensive remake to date – with a budget over $300 million – it’s unlikely that the company’ll backtrack on the project.
With all this said, we’d like to get your thoughts. Do you think Yifei’s politics and the boycott tweets will hurt Mulan at the box office? Or will it just be another victorious event for Disney? Be sure to drop us a comment in the section down below.