Mulan: 68% Jump In Disney+ Downloads
Never mind the $30 fee, lots of fans were ready to watch Mulan…
I didn’t pay it – yet. But many, many people could not wait to watch Disney’s latest live-action reboot.
Forbes — yes, Forbes, from which all good entertainment news emanates — posted:
Disney+ downloads and consumer spending on the app jumped this weekend, a sign that Mulan’s digital-first release led to increased demand despite an extra $29.99 charge to watch the movie and providing further evidence that streaming services may be able to increase revenue by charging more for premium content.
Elana Lyn Gross added:
Disney+ downloads increased by 68% and coincided with a 193% increase in consumer spending on the app from the premiere on September 4 through September 6 compared to one weekend prior, according to preliminary data from the mobile app data analytics company Sensor Tower, first reported by Bloomberg.
In turn, Bloomberg reported:
Image Credit: Disney
The unusual premium video download is considered a test of whether streaming subscribers are willing to pay extra fees to purchase content. The Covid-19 crisis, which shut down theaters around the world, has prompted Hollywood studios to experiment with different release strategies. Comcast Corp.’s Universal Studios made its “Trolls World Tour” film available online in April for a $20 fee… Apptopia Inc., another market researcher, put the number of downloads this past weekend at 674,000. About two-thirds of them came from the U.S.
Wow.
All this for a movie about which one reviewer said, “I’m glad to have seen Mulan in a theater months ago; having rewatched it recently at home from a digital screener, I can say that it isn’t remotely the same experience.”
Moreover, NPR’s Justin Chang wrote:
Mulan, while far from a great movie, was clearly made for the big screen. Director Niki Caro doesn’t skimp on spectacle: She handles the large-scale action sequences with flair, and she fills the frame with beautiful costumes and majestic landscapes — many of them from New Zealand, which stands in nicely for China. But I wish the movie’s engagement with Chinese culture went deeper than that gorgeous surface — that it succeeded in breathing fresh dramatic life into this oft-told tale.
[Cue the trombone] Waaaaat. Waaaah. Wah.
But I am going to make up my own mind later this week. Join me? I’ll tweet out when I am watching… feel free to chime in via my handle @jmbishopjr.
