Disney’s Live-Action Mulan Hires Niki Caro to Direct

As Disney attempts to conquer the live-action fairytale landscape, one of their future projects continues to take shape as Niki Caro joins Mulan.

Before we even saw the first trailer of Beauty and the Beast, Disney announced its upcoming slate of fairytale movies. Of course, this listed included all its greatest hits like The Little Mermaid and Mulan. While Cinderella, Maleficent, and The Jungle Book came out first, Disney expects Beauty and the Beast to be its most successful live-action adaptation to date. Obviously, this will be a tall order considering The Jungle Book nearly broke into the billion dollar club with ease.

Following the unprecedented success of The Jungle Book, Disney marked down a handful of dates saved especially for live-action films. But some are coming together more quickly than others. After Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time, Mulan is the next film with a name slated to hit theaters. I mean, The Little Mermaid has Lin-Manuel Miranda, which is cool. But still no director. Likewise, Dumbo just lost Will Smith.

However, things remain positive at Mulan with Disney announcing that they hired Niki Caro to adapt the war film about a Chinese woman who impersonates a man to keep her ill father from joining the war. Mulan’s bravery not only saves China, but also continues to be a beacon for women and children everywhere. Plus, Mushu’s hilarious and the film boasts a spectacular soundtrack.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Niki Caro (who was on the shortlist for Captain Marvel) will be only the second woman at Disney to direct a big budget film. Moreover, Disney also brought on Bill Kong as executive producer for his prolific work in China.

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As long as the film puts Chinese actors front and center, this film could be easy money for Disney, with Mulan‘s tentative release date set for 2018.