The country’s fast-growing movie exhibition business helped Disney films including “Avengers: Endgame,” “Zootopia” and “Coco” generate massive sums at the box office. The company has long considered China a key market. China, where Disney+ is not available, is one of the few significant markets where “Mulan” will screen in movie theaters. With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging in the U.S., the studio opted to bypass domestic multiplexes by selling the film digitally for $30 to Disney+ subscribers.
" arguably more actively sending a message to audiences of, ‘nothing to see here.’”ĭisney had every incentive to make the movie work in China. “Beijing’s influence over Hollywood goes beyond having blind spots for certain policies,” Tager said. James Tager, a researcher with free-expression advocacy group PEN America, which recently published a report on censorship of Hollywood movies for China, said the “Mulan” situation is particularly troubling. DreamWorks Animation’s “Abominable,” a U.S.-China coproduction, took heat in Asian countries for including a map containing the so-called nine-dash line that signifies China’s claim to disputed territory in the South China Sea. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) blasted the producers of “Top Gun: Maverick” for removing symbols representing Japan and Taiwan from Tom Cruise’s bomber jacket. The entertainment industry has long faced scrutiny for self-censoring its movies to avoid the ire of the Chinese government, which tightly regulates what movies play in theaters there. The controversy engulfing “Mulan” - based on a Chinese folktale and Disney’s animated 1998 musical of the same name - highlights the pitfalls that come with making films designed to play in the Middle Kingdom, experts said. And I would just leave it at that, but that’s generated a lot of issues for us.” “And so, in our credits, it recognized both China as well as locations in New Zealand. you acknowledge in the film’s credits the national and local governments that allow you to film there,” she said. "t’s also common knowledge in the film industry that. “Mulan” was “primarily shot, almost the entirety, in New Zealand,” McCarthy said, adding that the studio filmed scenery in 20 locations in China “in an effort to accurately depict some of the unique landscape and geography of the country. McCarthy, speaking Thursday at a Bank of America investor conference, suggested that the film’s ties to China were not as significant as people made them out to be but acknowledged that they had created “a lot of issues” for the company. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)ĭisney declined to comment for this story and referred The Times to recent remarks by Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) sent an additional pointed letter to Chapek, demanding detailed information about how Disney cooperated with the various government bodies in Xinjiang while making “Mulan.” The letter, which listed 10 questions about Disney’s dealings in China, was signed by Rubio and 18 other senators and members of Congress, including Rep.
On Friday, a group of lawmakers led by Sen. Recent comments by Trump administration officials have drawn renewed attention to Hollywood’s moves to placate Chinese censors. Hollywood ‘kowtowing’ to China takes heat from Washington. “Your decision to put profit over principle, to not just ignore the CCP’s genocide and other atrocities but to aid and abet them, is an affront to American values,” Hawley wrote in the letter. Hawley, who previously criticized the NBA for “kowtowing to Beijing,” on Wednesday published a letter addressed to Disney Chief Executive Bob Chapek, accusing the company of “whitewashing” the “ongoing Uighur genocide.” Republican politicians have frequently attacked Hollywood and China amid the Trump administration’s trade war with Beijing. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) pounced on the revelation that Disney, in the end credits for “Mulan,” gave “ special thanks” to government entities including the Publicity Department of CPC Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomy Region Committee. “In L.A., there’s a focus on freedom of expression,” said University of Virginia media studies professor Aynne Kokas, author of the book “Hollywood Made in China.” “Then we cross borders, and the democracy struggle in Hong Kong is erased, as are the human rights abuses in Xinjiang.” To critics, the rollout of “Mulan” marks the latest example of Hollywood’s hypocrisy and willingness to sacrifice values to do business in China.