Did Disney trade dimes for dollars by premiering its live-action Mulan on Disney Plus rather than North American theatrical box offices? Tough to say, but the Labor Day opening metrics for the film don’t look too bad.
Installations of the Disney Plus mobile app were up 68% to 890,000 over the weekend, according to analytics company Sensor Tower.
Money spent via Disney Plus mobile apps increased 193% from weekend to weekend to nearly $12 million, Sensor Tower added.
According to Samba TV, which tracks smart TV usage, 1.12 million households each paid $29.99 to watch Mulan from Friday to Monday, giving the film $33.5 million in domestic revenue for its opening weekend.
Meanwhile, streaming analytics and aggregation platform Reelgood said that Mulan was the most streamed among the 20 most popular shows over the weekend, controlling nearly 15% of all streams among that top-20 list. (Reelgood didn't disclose specifically how many streams went Mulan's way.)
With many theaters around North America and the world still shuttered amid the pandemic, Disney opted to let users of its $6.99 Disney Plus service pay an additional $30 for access to Mulan in the so-called “premium video on demand” window (PVOD).
“The release of Mulan in PVOD this past weekend should serve as an early proof point with respect to PVOD,” Bryan Kraft, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, said in his report upgrading the stock.
