Washington D.C.: Disney had the world premiere of their forthcoming live-action version of the classic animated feature ‘Mulan’ in Los Angeles. The premiere went on as planned even though there were fears that it would follow the lead of major festivals and events cancelling due to coronavirus fears.
However, according to Deadline, there were discreet precautions taken by the Dolby Theatre and the attendees. There were normal security checks around the Hollywood and Highland centre including officials randomly inspecting cars while they entered the garage and metal detectors. On top of that, there were hand sanitizing stations placed throughout the red carpet area and the Dolby Theater.
Many attendees greeted each other by shaking hands and hugging amid people asking for permission to hug and shake hands. Many attendees took precautions, preferring elbow bumps.
Even during the reception, workers were politely vigilant when it came to the food. They kept a close eye on if the guests came into contact with the food. Over at the dessert table, one guest took a cookie with a napkin rather than having a server give it to them with a pair of tongs. As a result, they ended up tossing out the whole tray of cookies. This was, of course, was done as a just-in-case safeguard from coronavirus.
Director Niki Caro walked on stage and introduced the film but before doing so, she talked about the film’s journey and her excitement of sharing it with the audience.
She spoke about how the movie promotes females as warriors and how they shouldn’t be held back by the expectations of society. Caro also showed gratitude for being allowed to direct a film based on legendary Chinese source material.
She addressed the “challenging” time we are in right now — specifically in China. She hopes that the film will help lift spirits and give the drive to persevere through the current outbreak.
From there, she brought out the cast including Donnie Yen, Jason Scott Lee, Yoson An, Jet Li, Nelson Lee, Jun Yu, Jimmy Wong, Doua Moua, Ron Yuan, Rosalind Chao, Tzi Ma and, of course, the heroine herself, Liu Yifei.