LOS ANGELES — Walt Disney Co. postponed the debut of live-action movie Mulan until Aug. 21, the company said in a statement on Friday, a blow to theater operators who want blockbuster movies to draw audiences from their homes in the middle of a pandemic. Mulan was scheduled to debut in March but was postponed until July 24 when the coronavirus outbreak forced theaters around the world to close. “While the pandemic has changed our release plans for Mulan and we will continue to be flexible as conditions require, it has not changed our belief in the power of this film and its message of hope and perseverance,” Alan Horn and Alan Bergman, co-chairmen of Walt Disney Studios, said in a statement. Mulan is a $200-million live-action remake of Disney’s animated classic that stars Yifei Liu in the title role. Movie theater owners had been hoping to offer Mulan and director Christopher Nolan’s thriller Tenet in July to help lure audiences back to cinemas. Both films are now pushed into August, with Tenet, from AT&T, Inc.’s Warner Bros., scheduled for Aug. 12. — Reuters
