Disney released the first photo of Liu Yifei—also known as Crystal Liu—as Mulan in the live-action version of the classic animated film of the same name released in 1998.
The action film, which is currently in production, will likely premiere on March 27, 2020, according to Gizmodo.
Niki Caro is directing the highly-anticipated film about a young woman pretending to be a man in the Chinese military in lieu of her ailing father. Mulan boasts a cast of accomplished actors such as Donnie Yen, Jason Scott Lee, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Rosalind Chao and Jet Li.
The movie will be filmed in New Zealand and China.
Disney has also recently adapted animated films Cinderella, Maleficent, and Beauty and the Beast, into live-action films, to box office success. Beauty and the Beast, starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens, for instance, grossed over $1 billion worldwide.
The company has yet to say whether this version of Mulan will use the original music from the animated version.
Yifei, who has a background in action movies and has released two albums in the Asian market, will likely sing and perform her own stunts in the movie. She is a beloved star in China but was relatively unknown to a Western audience before this casting, which was a relief to many fearing that Disney would whitewash another minority character.
