A screenshot of the 1998 Disney animated film "Mulan." (Photo : YouTube)
Disney's upcoming remake of "Mulan" will not have musical numbers unlike the original but a girl-powered martial arts flick, according to the film's director.
Niki Caro, who has been tapped to direct the live-action remake of the much-loved 1998 animated film, said that that there are "no songs right now, much to [the] horror of my children," in an interview with Moviefone.
"It's a big, girly martial arts epic. It will be extremely muscular and thrilling and entertaining and moving," she added.
Sean Bailey, Disney's President of Motion Picture Production, later confirmed the change in direction for the film.
"Mulan is clearly an empowered-female story but we can also do something new in this reimagining, make it a little more muscular, stronger, with touch of Ridley Scott," he told Vulture.
The move follows Disney's decision to discard songs from last year's "Jungle Book" remake, only incorporating the signature "The Bare Necessities" into the film while other famous songs were relegated at the end credits.
However, Disney's recently released live-action "Beauty and the Beast" reboot features many of its original songs.
Caro, who made waves in Hollywood for her 2002 Maori film "Whale Rider," said in a separate interview that the project has yet to start officially and there are not too many details to reveal.
As the story of Mulan is set in ancient China, casting for the reboot drew concerns of being whitewashed with Caucasian actors. The live-action version will now reportedly feature an all-Asian cast to preserve the cultural accuracy of the story.
"Mulan" is based on the Chinese folk ballad of legendary warrior Hua Mulan from the Southern and Northern Dynasties period of Chinese history. Disguised as a man, she took her ailing father's place in the army and earned high military honors before retiring to her hometown.
The movie is slated for release in theaters in Nov. 2018.
