Will Disney’s ‘Risky Gamble’ With ‘Mulan’ Pay Off?

With studios scrambling for revenue sources as the pandemic rolls on, Disney has taken the big step of releasing “Mulan” on premium video on-demand, breaking the expectation that tentpole blockbusters must rely on movie theaters and starting an experiment that Hollywood will be watching closely. “It’s a risky gamble that Disney is taking but says a lot about how confident they are in the state of movie theaters right now,” Boxoffice editor Daniel Loria told TheWrap. “They’re doing something that’s never been tried before, and it is anyone’s guess how audiences will respond.” So far, the films that have been pulled from theatrical release in favor of PVOD have been family animated films like “Trolls World Tour” and “Scoob!” or smaller-budget comedies like “The Lovebirds” and “King of Staten Island.” Tentpole blockbusters, with their enormous production and marketing costs, have long been expected to remain the domain of movie theaters, as they need the theatrical release model to make a return on investment with $1 billion-plus in box office grosses and hundreds of millions more in post-theatrical ancillary revenue. Also Read: 'Mulan' to Skip US Theaters for September Debut on Disney+ But as studios grapple with the instability of movie...

Read original story Will Disney’s ‘Risky Gamble’ With ‘Mulan’ Pay Off? At TheWrap