SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 26 — Apple, Google and Roku users will also be able to watch Disney’s Mulan from the comfort of their own homes, when the much-anticipated remake of the 1998 animated feature is released on September 4. The American studio will pay a commission to the platforms to sell the film. The deal has been billed as a means for Disney to recover some of its investment in the live-action movie.
Mulan will not only be available from Disney+. According to a report in Variety, the live-action remake of the animated classic will also be on sale from the Google Play Films, App Store and Raku platforms. Earlier this month, Disney announced that it intended to make the eagerly awaited film available on its streaming platform in view of the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, which has disrupted the traditional theatrical release of the film.
To avoid losing money, Disney has chosen to offer subscribers to its platform an opportunity to buy the film for the sum of US$29.99 (RM125), which is payable in addition to the standard subscription fee of US$6.99 a month. No official figures on the margins the studio intends to pay to partner platforms have been disclosed, however, the transaction fee for in-app purchases on Google and Apple is generally 30 per cent, while Raku usually takes a 20 per cent share of film sales. It is also worth noting that for the moment Amazon has not been mentioned as participating in the venture. Those who purchase the film via the App Store or Google Play will be charged US$29.99, which is the same amount that Disney+ subscribers will pay to access the film.
The deal with Apple and Google could enable the Burbank entertainment giant to recover some of its investment in the film by distributing it to a wider public. The Variety report also notes that Disney is hoping to harvest US$375 million from VOD sales of the film. A significant total that should be reached quite quickly when you consider that the Disney+ platform already had 60.5 million users at the beginning of the month of August, which was just nine months after its launch. — AFP-Relaxnews
