Disney's Live-Action 'Mulan' Gets Winter 2018 Release Date

The studio is launching a global casting search for a Chinese actress to play the legendary female heroine.

Disney's live-action retelling of the classic musical animated hit Mulan is a go.

The movie, which is being fast-tracked, will hit theaters Nov. 2, 2018, and be released in 3D, the studio announced Tuesday.

Disney is launching a global casting search for a Chinese actress to play Mulan.

The news that the studio is turning its 1998 animated hit into a live-action title comes after such successes as Maleficent, The Jungle Book and Cinderella, among other titles. And Disney is currently gearing up for the release of the live-action Beauty and the Beast, which opens March 17 and is expected to be one of the top-grossing titles of 2017.

The studio also announced that Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Jurassic World) had been brought aboard to rewrite a spec script for Mulan that Disney bought in 2015. Jaffa and Silver also are working on the Avatar sequel.

The Disney team saw the spec, by Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin, as a jumping-off point for a more nuanced and elaborate adaptation, combining the legendary Chinese ballad and the 1998 animated film.

A director for Mulan has yet to be announced. Jason Reed is attached to produce along with Chris Bender and Jake Weiner.

Like the 1998 animated film, Mulan is based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, the daughter of an aged warrior who disguises herself as a man in order to take her father's place in the army and go to war. Aided by her trusted dragon, Mushu, she becomes a skilled warrior and one of the country's greatest heroines.