No, Mulan Didn't Make $261 Million from Its Disney Plus Debut

UPDATE: It turns out Yahoo got the math very wrong on its claim that Mulan earned $261 million in 12 days from Disney+ alone. While Disney has not officially shared numbers on Mulan's performance, the analytics firm used by Yahoo! misinterpreted the data and now says Mulan only made between $60-$90 million from its digital-only domestic debut. Mulan's VOD sales then appear to have not beaten the total global box office gross of Tenet, a film which went for theatrical release only as opposed to Mulan's split release of digital at home and theatrical abroad. As The Atlantic points out, "Neither bet really paid off." As the site explains:

"Stateside, one could argue that Disney made the right gamble. Tenet is playing in mostly empty theaters and has grossed $36 million domestically; even the lower end of the estimates cited by Yahoo would suggest that Mulan made twice as much online. Because Disney released the film exclusively on its own platform, it gets to keep all of that money, as opposed to having to split it with cinemas or with companies such as Apple and Amazon. Even so, the film needs to make far more than $90 million to cover its budget, so the overseas release was crucial. But Mulan stumbled—its grosses dropped a disastrous 72 percent in its second weekend in China."

With a current global total of $251 million, Tenet could still conceivably earn $400 million worldwide by the end of the year despite many theatrical markets, especially major domestic ones like New York City and Los Angeles, remaining closed. Our original report from Sept. 20th follows. [poilib element="accentDivider"] If the math adds up, then the following report contains some interesting data as it pertains to U.S. movie release models. It appears that Mulan has pulled in more money to date with its U.S. premium Disney+ VOD model (with a price tag of $29.99) than Tenet‘s entire overseas box office haul. Nothing is official here, since the Mulan VOD numbers aren't out for all to see just yet, but Yahoo is currently reporting huge numbers for Mulan, saying that "nearly 29% of U.S. Disney+ users that accessed the app between September 1st to September 12th purchased the $30 Mulan film." Given this, it would appear that Mulan has pulled in "$261 million for U.S. markets alone." Disney reports that the streaming platform has over 60 million global subscribers. If it's assumed that U.S. households make up 50% of that total base then roughly 9 million users bought Mulan. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/08/21/tenet-review"] Meanwhile, per Variety, Tenet crossed $250 million this weekend globally. It's in the U.S., with limited released and theaters at limited capacity, that the film is struggling the most as it earned $4.7 million this weekend, bringing the North American total to $36.1 million to date. Again, it's important to note that Disney hasn't released any official Mulan numbers, though CFO Christine McCarthy said the company is “very pleased” with its performance. Our review of Mulan called the film a "confident blend of old and new, hiding a familiar heart under action-packed armor" while our review of Tenet said Nolan's latest was a "thrilling addition" to the the director's canon, but "is slightly held back by a sense of over-familiarity." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=mulan-biggest-differences-between-the-animated-movie-and-live-action-remake&captions=true"] IGN serves a global audience, so we will be covering films that may be available theatrically in some countries but not others due to local COVID-19 restrictions. Read more on IGN's policy on movie reviews in light of COVID-19 here. IGN strongly encourages anyone considering going to a movie theater during the COVID-19 pandemic to check their local public health and safety guidelines before buying a ticket. If in doubt, stay home — keep yourself and others safe.

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