Mulan (Live-action remake)

Features, Shorts, Live-Action and Direct-To-Video
Post Reply
User avatar
AV Founder
AV Founder
Posts: 25294
Joined: October 22nd, 2004
Location: London, UK

Re: Mulan (Live-action remake)

Post by Ben » October 8th, 2020, 1:38 pm

Well, I didn’t pay to see it... ;)

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 9996
Joined: September 1st, 2006

Re: Mulan (Live-action remake)

Post by Daniel » October 29th, 2020, 3:49 pm

Home video release is November, 10th. Some locations already have it out as it is popping up on eBay.

A little over a month for free on Disney+!

User avatar
AV Founder
AV Founder
Posts: 25294
Joined: October 22nd, 2004
Location: London, UK

Re: Mulan (Live-action remake)

Post by Ben » October 29th, 2020, 4:04 pm

What a messed up release pattern this eventually had.

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 9996
Joined: September 1st, 2006

Re: Mulan (Live-action remake)

Post by Daniel » November 6th, 2020, 4:25 pm

A look at the covers and offerings:

Blu combo:

Image

4K:

Image

Combo with original:

Image

Best Buy:

Image

Target:

Image

Target version looks pretty nice if one has to have it.

User avatar
AV Founder
AV Founder
Posts: 25294
Joined: October 22nd, 2004
Location: London, UK

Re: Mulan (Live-action remake)

Post by Ben » November 6th, 2020, 8:38 pm

If only there was a 4K double with the original. I might have gone for that, otherwise don’t really see the need...

AV Founder
AV Founder
Posts: 7261
Joined: October 23rd, 2004
Location: SaskaTOON, Canada

Re: Mulan (Live-action remake)

Post by Randall » November 6th, 2020, 9:17 pm

I rather like the Steelbook. I have most of the "remake" Steelbooks, though I'll wait to see this on D+ first.

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 716
Joined: April 8th, 2020

Re: Mulan (Live-action remake)

Post by Farerb » November 6th, 2020, 11:46 pm

I want to get the animated film in 4K, though it doesn't seem like Amazon has it yet. I don't really care about the remake.

User avatar
AV Founder
AV Founder
Posts: 25294
Joined: October 22nd, 2004
Location: London, UK

Re: Mulan (Live-action remake)

Post by Ben » November 7th, 2020, 5:03 am

Amazon won’t have the animated (do they have the live yet?) as per their silly feud with Disney that never sees preorders available from them. Once a title is released they then do get stock in, but you’ll rarely ever see a Disney preorder at Amazon US. Luckily an importer that I use is listing the animated 4K (at quite a hefty premium price I might add!), but he doesn’t have he live yet, which I’m on the fence with. I didn’t think much of it at all, but wifey liked it and, if anything, the reason to own it in 4K is for the design and colouring, though I think the digital version we have will probably suffice for if we ever want to see it again, and then of course there’s the D+ option too.

While I haven’t been updating the CG films onto 4K (because they are all 2K upscales to begin with), I have been going with the tradigital films. That in itself is an interesting conundrum: the CAPS features were only ever put out at 2K, but still output to three-strip film preservations, which in theory will give more resolution to a 4K scan. Mermaid is native 4K because it was the final cel-to-film output, and in the other cases I believe they went with the newer Imax-sized negatives for Beauty And The Beast, Aladdin and Lion King. I’m not aware of any others put out yet, or how they have approached Mulan, but apparently it’s native 4K, however they have managed that.

In truth, there isn’t an amazing uptick in detail on what I’ve seen, but I prefer the slightly muted and less boosted colours that made everything look like the DTVs — an effect one can actually easily achieve by reducing saturation and contrast on their display, of course. Not sure why we haven’t seen classic features on the format yet, but I wonder if their restorations were only ever 2K as well, or if the grain on some of them might be "problematic" to making them look as "nice" as the newer films, which is silly, of course. Nevertheless I think there’s more to it than just them just being older titles that they don’t think will sell. Certainly there’s a handful that would not only look great but would be decent and maybe even stellar sellers. Maybe they’re secretly being worked on...we can hope.

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 716
Joined: April 8th, 2020

Re: Mulan (Live-action remake)

Post by Farerb » November 7th, 2020, 5:19 am

From my experience with Amazon, they usually put the pre orders up for a few hours and then mark it as unavailable. I usually manage to pre order it pretty fast but Disney has been weird with Mulan lately because all stores made pre order available only yesterday. If I can't get it from Amazon then I try eBay, other stores want it for $50 which is a bit too much IMO.

I've updated all the films they released so far (woth the exception of Ralphs and Big Hero 6) and I do it because of the HDR, not the detail and I think they are an improvement over the Blu-rays in terms of color and depths.

From what I know about Disney's process, they upscale the film's previous master and apply HDR, I think Mulan will be the same (where does it say it's native 4K?). As for the older classics, they were scanned at 4K but restored at 2K so they'll have to go through another restoration process which might take a while, hopefully Disney will do this cause Cinderella definitely needs an improved restoration.

User avatar
AV Founder
AV Founder
Posts: 25294
Joined: October 22nd, 2004
Location: London, UK

Re: Mulan (Live-action remake)

Post by Ben » November 7th, 2020, 8:54 am

The Digital Bits lists it as native 4K with a new Atmos mix.

I don’t find the addition of HDR to warrant updating most titles (even A-B-ing a selection doesn’t show something that’s worth another thirty bucks, especially on upscales), since the colours pop in animation anyway, and it’s not something a colour and contrast boost can't approximate. I’m lucky that my projection system has amazing native 4K image quality anyway, and the way I have it calibrated means even a decently encoded DVD looks pretty darned nice.

Totally agree on the Walt films, esp Cinders. I believe some of the films were scanned even higher, such as Sleeping Beauty, at 6 or 8K, as has also been Warners' policy in some cases. Restoration is done at lower resolution, yes, so these would have to be done again, although I think maybe with a bit more sensitivity to the originals nowadays. Certainly the approach across the board with 4K seems to be to return to the intention of what a Grade A first-day release or show print would look like (as we know, the negative shouldn’t actually always be taken as how a film should look, since grading takes place afterwards).

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 9996
Joined: September 1st, 2006

Re: Mulan (Live-action remake)

Post by Daniel » November 8th, 2020, 3:27 pm

A look the disc menu:



Deleted scenes sound interesting.

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 9996
Joined: September 1st, 2006

Re: Mulan (Live-action remake)

Post by Daniel » November 10th, 2020, 3:46 pm

Disney Movie Club offer:

Image

What a silly bundle. They should at least give you a choice. Pendant is pretty cool.

AV Founder
AV Founder
Posts: 7261
Joined: October 23rd, 2004
Location: SaskaTOON, Canada

Re: Mulan (Live-action remake)

Post by Randall » November 10th, 2020, 8:32 pm

You can likely upgrade to the 4K for the new film by phoning in an order, but offering one Blu and one 4K by default is ridiculous.... especially when the LA film will likely benefit much more from the upgrade....

.... Ah. They want you to lazily order the Blu, then have you upgrade to 4K later. Right. Silly me, I'm a little slow.

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 9996
Joined: September 1st, 2006

Re: Mulan (Live-action remake)

Post by Daniel » December 3rd, 2020, 8:02 pm

Tomorrows the big day! After months of so much I can't be bothered to recap, Mulan will finally be available for free to Disney+ subscribers. Now to find the time. ;)

AV Founder
AV Founder
Posts: 7261
Joined: October 23rd, 2004
Location: SaskaTOON, Canada

Re: Mulan (Live-action remake)

Post by Randall » December 3rd, 2020, 10:09 pm

Wow, already! I guess it is December now. And I had no problem with waiting for it.

Post Reply