MULAN's Disney+ Release Was Dictated By Research Suggesting Dismal Box Office Performance

Mulan was supposed to be released in theaters back in March, but the COVID-19 pandemic made that impossible and it was later moved to July. With things not improving, that too changed, and Disney ended up surprising everyone when they announced a Disney+ debut and a $29.99 price tag.

While we still don't know whether that was a successful move (it must have earned more money that Tenet's dismal $10 million opening weekend), Disney CFO Christine McCarthy has explained that the reaction from consumers about potentially returning to movie theaters in the midst of a pandemic is a big part of what led to the decision to give Mulan a PVOD release. 

"We know what the statistics are on consumer behavior when people are asked, ‘Would you go to a theater?'" she explained in an interview with Deadline. "It’s gone up a bit in the last month, but a lot of that has to do with what demographic you’re in. In general, if you look at that research, you’ll generally see that older people are less likely."

"Probably younger people — the same people who are doing things we see on the news shows that they probably shouldn’t be doing, and crowding and partying — they’re probably more likely to go to a theater. But would a family with young kids go? Probably not."

McCarthy later added that Disney has been "very pleased" with the way Mulan performed and believe its release brought in "some additional new subscribers."

Now, the question is, will Black Widow follow?