It seems Mulan is going to end its theatrical run in China with a box office haul that will likely see it deemed a flop in the Middle Kingdom. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Chinese ticketing app "Maoyan" is anticipating an eventual cume of $41 million once the Disney movie finishes playing there.
Earning a disappointing $6.5 million during its second weekend, takings dropped by 72% following its opening, and with a limited global release in countries where Disney+ is available, it's likely Mulan will only make around $57 million against a budget of an estimated $200 million. However, we still don't know exactly how much money the movie made from its recent PVOD release.
Either way, it's probably not as much as Disney would have liked or anywhere near the amount expected from a traditional theatrical release in a world not besieged by a pandemic.
Mulan has been plagued with problems from the start, though, with a #BoycattMulan movement in Hong Kong and across the world thanks to lead star Yifei Liu sharing support for China's role in taking Hong Kong's independence. That and negative publicity generated by the film crediting the country's controversial publicity department led to a coverage ban in China itself, likely to stop them looking bad in any way...and to possibly even punish Disney for not keeping a lid on things.
Unless Mulan has been a giant-sized hit on Disney+, a sequel is unlikely, especially if it failed to resonate with Chinese audiences (who were taken into account when the movie was being made).