Mulan debuts to disappointing £17.8 million in China

Mulan's long-awaited debut in China has stumbled at the box office, bringing in just $23 million - around £17.8 million - over its opening weekend.

Though the movie came in at number one in the Chinese chart, it only barely beat the sober, historical epic The Eight Hundred, which made nearly $22 million.

It's yet another significant stumble for the movie, which has been hit hard by the coronavirus lockdown, in terms of delays to its release, and befallen other controversies too.

Read more: Pro-democracy boycott calls for Mulan

Pro-democracy protesters around the far east, from Thailand and Taiwan to Hong Kong, have called for a boycott of the movie over comments made by its lead actress, Liu Yifei.

Yifei, who plays Mulan in New Zealand director Niki Caro's live action remake, showed support for the Chinese authorities Hong Kong police authorities, while they were clamping down on pro-democracy protests last year.

Donnie Yen, who plays Commander Tung, has also showed support for Hong Kong 'returning to the motherland' of China.

In a second damaging blow, it has since emerged that the movie was filmed in China's controversial Xinjiang province.

The province, in the north-east of the country, is where the China is being accused of detaining Uighur Muslims in so-called 're-education' camps.

Thus far, the movie has made just $37.6 million back from its $200 million budget.

The movie is available via premium streaming on Disney+.