Mulan

So far Disney’s live-action remakes have brought some of the most iconic Disney princesses to life on the big screen. We’ve seen Lily James try on the glass slipper as Cinderella, Elle Fanning prick her finger as Aurora, and this weekend Emma Watson dons Belle’s classic yellow gown in Beauty and the Beast. But it’s about time for a Disney princess to roll up her sleeves and prove just how tough a woman can be. Enter:

The recent results of USC’s annual study pegged Disney as one of the worst offenders when it comes to hiring diverse directors, which makes today’s news pretty darn positive: The studio has tapped director Niki Caro (best known for Whale Rider) to helm their live-action reimagining of Mulan, making her the second woman to direct a film with a budget of over $100 million for Disney — that’s the second woman ever in the entire history of the studio.

From Tilda Swinton in Doctor Strange to Scarlet Johansson in Ghost in the Shell, 2016 has seen a handful of white actors get cast in roles originally depicted as Asian. Whitewashing reached a new high these year, with multiple film and TV projects failing to represent Asian characters, and fans aren’t happy. Social media campaigns and online petitions have sprung up in response calling out Hollywood for continuing to erase Asian faces from screens.

Well that didn’t take very long. Last week, a report revealed that not only is Disney seeking Chinese actors for their live-action remake of Mulan, but they’re also looking for an Asian filmmaker. That same report noted that Sony was also looking for an Asian filmmaker for their competing live-action Mulan project. While Disney’s search is ongoing, Sony has already landed on a director and — big fat not-surprise — it’s a white man.

With the success of 2015’s live-action Cinderella, Disney knew it had hit a gold mine. Plans for a live-action take on another favorite, Mulan, started being developed that same year, along with plans to adapt The Jungle Book, whose almost-completely-CGI take hit theaters earlier this summer and had a mighty good run at the box office. In a wild set of coincidences, Sony has also been working on live-action versions of The Jungle Book and Mulan, although their Jungle Book, directed by Andy Serkis, has been delayed to 2018. Both studios, however, are looking for Asian directors for their respective projects.

When Disney set a release date for their live-action remake of Mulan, some fans were understandably concerned that the studio might whitewash the story — Marvel had, after all, cast Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One in Doctor Strange, and the new Iron Fist Netflix series boasts a mostly white cast. When a breakdown of Disney’s Mulan script made the rounds yesterday, it validated those concerns by revealing that the story features a white love interest. But according to a new report, you don’t need to worry because that script is being heavily rewritten to feature a predominantly Chinese cast.

Few things in life are certain: Death, taxes, and Disney’s live-action remakes of animated classics. One of the studio’s many, many, many upcoming live-action projects has graduated from concept to reality (or something close to it) as Disney has officially set a release date for Mulan, giving you ample time to clear your calendar for the first weekend of November…in 2018.

Disney announced a slate of 19 upcoming films with release dates through 2020. In addition to Marvel’s Ant-Man 2, three untitled Marvel movies and the release date for The Incredibles 2, Disney also revealed dates for four new live-action fairy tales. According to Variety, the untitled fairy tales will be released on December 22, 2017, November 2, 2018, March 29, 2019 and November 8, 2019. But what could these untitled movies be?

Following the critical and commercial success of Cinderella, Disney is having a field day developing live-action versions of their beloved animated classics. In addition to Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book, Tim Burton’s Dumbo and the upcoming Beauty and the Beast, the studio is already planning on giving another one of its beloved properties the live-action treatment, and it’s one you might be pretty excited about: Mulan.