AN ANALYTICAL LOOK AT THE BUZZ SURROUNDING THIS NEW DISNEY RELEASE

Disney is releasing its new live-action remake, Mulan, to Disney Plus subscribers next week. Since the first official trailer was released, chatter surrounding this movie has been both scattered and controversial. Mulan remained a trending topic on Twitter for a number of days until the atomic bomb that is the year 2020 drowned out the noise and the premier. Recently, however, this topic has re-emerged with news of a new Disney Plus Premier Access feature and a music video performed by Christina Aguilera that's currently topping the U.S. iTunes Charts.

TWEET ANALYSIS

Using an advanced Twitter search, I isolated 100 tweets that included the hashtag #Mulan. This was the only hashtag the official Disney social media pages were utilizing for promotion. I then pulled key topics from the sample tweets including Christina Aguilera's rendition of the popular original soundtrack, "Reflection," and the new premier access feature on Disney Plus. While under review, I noted a new emerging hashtag: #boycottmulan

#BOYCOTTMULAN

This film was bound to spark attention as the most expensive film ever directed by a female, with a whopping production budget of over $200 million. However, it was unexpected that a direct line to police brutality would be made to the film. The film's star, Liu Yifei, expressed support of the Hong Kong police force on her personal social media, which ruffled some feathers both in China and the United States. The hashtag #BoycottMulan was created to express support of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and deter Disney fans from supporting the film.

PREMIER ACCESS

Perhaps the most popular topic regarding the Mulan release is the debut of Premier Access on Disney Plus. Consumers are confused and negatively reacting to the $30 premier access charge on top of their monthly subscription fee. Consumers were further taken aback when Disney announced that the movie would be available to all Disney Plus subscribers with out an extra charge as early as December. Some are concerned that this will become a new norm, eliminating theatre visits. Unfortunately for the female-directed film, Disney Plus is not required to release its premier access viewer data.

The consumer may never know if this film lived up to Christina's high C, or fell flat for a lack of nostalgia from the original film.

Image Source(s): imdb.com; Skylar Shular and the DisInsider; Niki Caro and Zimbio.com