After China, Disney's 'Mulan' Sees Muted Opening In Hong Kong

The Walt Disney Co's DIS “Mulan” is receiving the cold shoulder in Hong Kong as local pro-democracy activists call for its boycott, Reuters reported Sunday.

What Happened: Cinemas in the special administrative region of China premiered Mulan on Thursday morning, according to Reuters.

The film could reportedly only sell one-third of the tickets on its first screening at the Mong Kok Broadway Theatre, a popular area for pro-democracy protests. 

The number of tickets sold was 20% less than the local production “I’m livin’ it” by Hing Fan Wong, which made its debut at the same time as Mulan, Reuters noted.

AT&T Inc T-owned Warner Bros Studio film “Tenet,” which premiered in Hong Kong on Sept. 20, did better at the box office of the Festival Grand Cinema on Thursday, as per Reuters. 

Why It Matters: Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong and other online activists in Taiwan and Thailand have been promoting a boycott of the Liu Yifei starrer using hashtags "#BoycottMulan" and "#BanMulan" on Twitter, according to Reuters.

Mainland China-born Liu pledged her support to the Hong Kong police last August when pro-democracy protests rocked the territory.

The movie is also the center of a controversy because parts of it were shot in the Xinjiang region where it is alleged that China is holding more than one million prisoners, many of which belong to the Muslim minority, in “re-education camps,” as per the Hollywood Reporter.

The film is also struggling on the mainland box office where it only managed to rake in over $23 million at its first weekend of screening, lower than the $30 million Tenet had brought in at debut.

Mulan’s silver lining could be online streaming which caused a 193% hike in Disney+ app spending at the beginning pf this month, TechCrunch reported. 

Price Action: Disney shares closed 0.65% higher at $132.09 on Tuesday and gained 0.3% in the after-hours session.

Photo courtesy: The Walt Disney Company