Disney's Mulan misadventure

Why are so many boycotting this would-be blockbuster?

The smartest insight and analysis, from all perspectives, rounded up from around the web:

Disney's summer blockbuster is becoming a horror show, said Christopher Palmeri at Bloomberg. What was "supposed to be another $1 billion" megahit, the live-action remake of 1998's hugely popular animated film Mulan, is "proving to be a political hot potato." The controversy began more than a year ago, when the movie's leading actress, Liu Yifei, "voiced her support for the mainland Chinese government during Hong Kong pro-democracy protests." Complaints that Disney was catering to China's Communist Party gained steam when viewers who paid $30 to stream the film noticed "special thanks" in the closing credits to Chinese government entities in Xinjiang. That's the region where China has set up concentration camps for as many as a million Uighurs, a Muslim minority. The revelation prompted calls for a boycott, even as "the coronavirus knocked out Mulan's chances of getting a successful run in theaters." Now China, in a backlash against the backlash, has refused to allow its media to promote the film, which earned a meager $23 million in its Chinese theatrical debut.

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