Disney:

What is Premier Access?

Starting September 4, with Premier Access, you can watch Mulan before it’s available to all Disney+ subscribers or anywhere else. Disney+ will offer Premier Access to Mulan for $29.99 on disneyplus.com and in the Disney+ app on select platforms, including Apple, Google, and Roku. The Premier Access offer will be available until November 2, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Once you have Premier Access to Mulan, you can watch as many times as you want on any platform where Disney+ is available. Your access to Mulan will continue as long as you are an active Disney+ subscriber. Mulan will be available to all Disney+ subscribers on December 4, 2020 for no additional cost.

Disney’s landing page has also been updated with the December 4th, 2020 date that had appeared on-and-off over the last few days. So, is the allure of getting a day-one showing at home enough for you to pay up for this movie, or will you wait around until later?

It’s the wall-running for us.

Here’s a special look at Disney’s #Mulan, streaming this Friday exclusively on #DisneyPlus with Premier Access. For more info: https://t.co/qkcCGG7t7i pic.twitter.com/iSJ1jrOsf6

— Disney+ (@disneyplus) September 2, 2020

Disney:

What is Premier Access?

Starting September 4, with Premier Access, you can watch Mulan before it’s available to all Disney+ subscribers. Disney+ will offer Premier Access to Mulan for $29.99 on disneyplus.com and select platforms, including Apple, Google, and Roku. Once you have Premier Access to Mulan, you can watch as many times as you want on any platform where Disney+ is available. Your access to Mulan will continue as long as you are an active Disney+ subscriber.

However, that also seems to indicate that other platforms, like Amazon Fire TV, Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox, might not have the ability to support buying the movie in the Disney+ app on their devices. Based on the FAQ for Premier Access, it appears that once you buy the flick, you’ll be able to watch it anywhere there’s a Disney+ app. That could change before it arrives on September 4th, but it’s yet another wrinkle in the confusing rollout of Disney’s direct-to-home blockbuster release.

Specifically, a spokesperson said you’ll have access to the film as long you’re a Disney+ subscriber. That’s great news if you were hoping to rewatch it, but it’s definitely a strange way to handle a purchase. iTunes or Vudu don’t demand a monthly subscription for you to access films you digitally own, so I’m not sure how Disney can justify this limitation. Disney could allow Mulan to sync up with MoviesAnywhere, so it’s accessible on other services in the future. But, there’s been no suggestion that will be the case. Again, it’s like the company hasn’t fully thought out this whole plan — it’s just taking a gamble and seeing if consumers bite.

During Disney’s earnings call, CEO Bob Chapek said that it was treating this Mulan release as a one-off event, meaning the company isn’t planning to offer other upcoming films as a Disney+ purchase. But, he also said Disney would be paying close attention to how Mulan performs. If it ends up earning a ton of money and convinces people to subscribe to Disney+, you can bet the company will consider similar premium offerings for other films. After all, it needs to make up for theaters being closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and limited theme park access. Disney’s revenue basically cratered during the last quarter, which explains why it may be so willing to throw caution to the wind with Mulan. 

I can understand why many people might be turned off by the idea of spending an extra $30, especially when the movie will most likely show up on Disney+’s normal lineup a few months later. That’s twice the price of an average movie ticket in a major city, and it’s unclear if you’ll get any extras or special features. But for parents with kids, Disney’s gamble is an intriguing one. A family of four would need to spend much more than $30 to get to a theater, and that’s just for tickets. That’s not including snacks and the headache of dealing with kids in a public space. 

Sure, it’s not like we can even run out to a theater now, but compared to the state of the world in the before times, $30 doesn’t seem completely unreasonable. We’ve seen other studios experiment with faster VOD turnarounds during the pandemic, and those are typically $20 rentals. Spending a bit more to virtually own a movie seems worth it.

Part of the problem for Disney is that it’s been undercutting itself by making Disney+ an incredible value for subscribers. Not only do they have access to many major franchises and releases, the company dropped major films like The Rise of Skywalker early as the pandemic forced us indoors. It even released Hamilton on the service over a year early at no extra cost. As much as I’m looking forward to Mulan, I don’t think it’ll have the cultural impact of that musical. So is it really worth an extra $30?

It’s particularly baffling that Disney hasn’t even put this Mulan offering in writing at the time of this post. There’s no mention of it on the Disney+ Twitter, or any of the company’s corporate PR sites. All we have to go on is what Bob Chapek said during his earnings statements, and Disney PR’s confirmation that it would be a digital purchase. And even that was on background, so we can’t even quote the reps by name. This all feels particularly strange coming from a company known for strictly controlling corporate messaging.

Here’s the thing: I think it’s smart for Disney and other giant media firms to explore new ways to bring movies to consumers. Until a COVID-19 vaccine is widely available, we won’t be rushing back into theaters anytime soon. I’m just hoping the company has a more solid plan than it seems on the surface, especially when it comes to locking in a digital purchase to Disney+. Because if they bungle this release, it could hurt other attempts at bringing theatrical experiences into homes.

With theaters closed, Disney has decided to try a “premiere access” release strategy for its live-action Mulan movie. While it still plans to attempt a theatrical release in some parts of the world, on September 4th viewers will be able to buy it at home for $30 via Disney+. Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced the decision on his company’s earnings call, where it also announced it’s topped more than 100 million streaming subscribers across all of its services.

The $200 million-budgeted blockbuster was originally supposed to premiere in theaters on March 21st, but the coronavirus pandemic changed all of that. Since then, Disney pushed the opening back to July and then August, and has apparently concluded that in many parts of the world, theaters won’t be open at normal capacity any time soon.