Disney shocked a lot of fans when it announced that the live-action Mulan film would release simultaneously in theaters and on the Disney Plus streaming service in some parts of the world.
With just a few weeks until its September 4 release, now the company has explained how renting the film for $29.99 (or the equivalent in your local currency) will actually work in terms of access to the film after you've finished watching it.
According to a Canadian Disney Plus help page – to which there is no US or UK equivalent page right now – you can enjoy 'Premier Access' to Mulan and watch it as many times as you want after you've paid the one-time fee.
You can order Mulan on Disney Plus here
The key detail: you'll only be able to watch Mulan in this way as long as you're subscribed to Disney Plus.
Presumably, then, if you've got a year-long subscription you started back in November with Disney Plus launched, you might want to keep subscribing if you're desperate to watch more of the live-action Mulan going into the holidays.
That said, at some point, probably next year, Mulan will become available to all Disney Plus subscribers. It won't be necessary to stay subscribed until the end of time to enjoy Mulan on the streaming service.
Some details of how Mulan's release will work – including whether or not it'll be released on Disney Plus in the UK, since cinemas are opening up ahead of Tenet's release next week – have yet to be explained.
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Will it be worth it?
Mulan may be worth the premium fee depending on the number of people you're watching it with. $29.99 is steep, and the value of that purchase really depends on your mileage for live-action Disney movies versus their traditionally superior animated counterparts.
That said, we're living through a global pandemic – if you want to minimize risk and you're a massive Disney fan, maybe that'll make the price worth it.
Disney says this is a one-off. Expect movies like Black Widow to still release theatrically – although that's one film where we'd certainly have considered dropping the money to avoid going to the theaters.
