Pay for Mulan on Disney Plus and you'll be able to watch it as often as you like... if you're a subscriber
As it turns out, September's Mulan Disney Plus offer is better value than we thought
There's been a lot of confusion over the Mulan Disney Plus offer. Although most of us will have heard that this live-action remake is coming to the streaming service on September 4, 2020, other details are less clear. Can you only watch the movie once? Will it ever appear on Disney Plus for free? And because it already costs $30 (confirmed at £19.99 in the UK, €21.99 in the EU, and AUS$34.99 in Australia), will you have to pay for a Disney Plus membership as well as the film?
After doing some digging, we've found that the deal is actually better value than anticipated. Specifically, the Mulan Disney Plus offer allows you to watch the movie as often as you like so long as you've got a Disney Plus sign-up. That means you don't need to worry about a time-limit or the film expiring once you've seen it. Here's the official explanation from the Disney Plus help page: "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".
- Disney Plus: Head to the dedicated Mulan page on Disney Plus
In other words, this Mulan Disney Plus deal is more like buying the film than renting it. Sort of, anyway. If you have an active membership to the streaming service, you'll still have access to Mulan 2020.
For current subscribers, this means that you just need to pay the $29.99 (£19.99 in the UK) fee via Disney Premier Access. You'll then be able to watch Mulan as much as you like. However, those without a Disney Plus membership will need to pay the $30 cost and get at least a month's worth of Disney Plus itself - $6.99 in the US, $8.99 in Canada and Australia, or £5.99 in the UK. To translate, getting Mulan 2020 will cost you roughly $37 overall if you live in America and don't have a Disney Plus subscription, and £26 for the UK equivalent.
Are you better off waiting for Mulan to appear on Disney Plus for free, then? Well, there's no word yet on when it'll officially arrive. Because the September 4 date is comparable to a cinema release, we likely won't get the standard DVD / Blu-ray launch until December or January at the earliest. It probably won't appear on 'normal' Disney Plus until then as a result. As such, anyone waiting for Mulan to become available for standard subscribers may be waiting a while.
Whether that's a worthwhile trade-off will be down to you. Some could argue that the cost of Mulan and a month's Disney Plus subscription is less than a family would pay for the same experience at the cinema. Meanwhile, others would say that (hidden monthly cost aside) it won't be the same experience as a theatre. Both are valid points.
Because Disney has admitted that this is something of an experiment, we'll have to wait and see how it pans out. Could the same thing happen to Black Widow down the line? Time will tell.
Until then, you can do some research on whether Disney Plus is worth your time via our Disney Plus review. As for the best prices, don't forget about these Disney Plus bundles.
Sign up to the 12DOVE Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
As the site's Tabletop & Merch Editor, you'll find my grubby paws on everything from board game reviews to the latest Lego news. I've been writing about games in one form or another since 2012, and can normally be found cackling over some evil plan I've cooked up for my group's next Dungeons & Dragons campaign.