Yes, We Will See These Princess Movies in September!

After much speculation and delay, three princess movies that once had uncertain futures are now officially coming to streaming services next month. Two will be on Disney+, and the third will stream on Netflix. We now have confirmed release dates for these movies with new trailers and previews released for all three within the last week to build up excitement for the next month. The traditional November of princess events and releases probably won't happen this year, so September is going to the final frontier of princess movies for 2020. With the current stigma against going outside, streaming services will become the primary medium for all our princess content, at least for a while.

Of the three princess movies coming out next month, none has suffered more with its release than the live-action remake of Mulan. Disney desperately wanted this to be a theatrical release, which is clear from the fact that they delayed it three times before ultimately deciding to make it an optional purchase for Disney+ subscribers. After months of uncertainty, the movie will release one week from today on Friday, September 4th for anyone willing to pay an additional $29.99 to add it to the content they currently have available to stream on Disney+. There has been some confusion as to whether this would be a rental or a permanent addition to their account. My understanding is that if you pay the one-time fee, you will be able to watch the movie as many times as you want as long as it remains on Disney+. For those who do not want to pay an additional fee, Mulan will be added to the streaming service for all of its subscribers sometime next year. The fee to watch it early is perfectly reasonable if you factor in how much the average family spends on a trip to the movie theater, considering that it was originally made for theaters and not streaming. To solidify its confirmed release, Disney has uploaded several new videos for it within the past week, including a behind-the-scenes featurette and a new music video of Christina Aguilera reprising her performance of "Reflections" from the original film.

The other princess release coming to Disney+ next month has only been delayed one time, but it was a confusing delay considering that it was made for streaming and not theaters like Mulan. Secret Society of Second-Born Royals was an exciting project for me because it features one of my favorite Disney Channel actresses, Andi Mack's Peyton Elizabeth Lee, starring as a Disney Princess. Hopefully, this movie will look amazing after the extra time they took to complete the visual effects. I had assumed its production was pretty far along in the pipeline because Disney featured finished clips from the film in a 2020 preview they released in early January. A new trailer that launched this week features footage of Skylar Astin of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist fame using his powers. His character appears to have the ability to clone multiple copies of himself, which probably makes it easier to land multiple punches on the fictional universe's bad guys. Other superpowers featured in the 30-second preview include telekinesis and super hearing. I hope we get a much clearer understanding of what each character can do when the superhero/princess crossover film drops on September 25th.

The third and final September princess movie comes out on September 1st, which is only days away. Barbie Princess Adventure was a big question mark on the calendars of princess fans until they finally began uploading music videos and promotional content a few weeks ago. Presenting itself as a modern-day remake of The Princess and the Pauper, Barbie Princess Adventure features a princess who is tired of the pressures of royal life and decides to switch places with Barbie, who looks exactly like her. From the previews, it looks like Princess Amelia invites Barbie to her home country after watching her famous vlog and discovering a clear resemblance between the two of them. Barbie is encouraged by her friends and family to accept the invite and bring them with her on a private jet to the fabled kingdom where Barbie will live out the life of a princess for a few days. When a rival prince kidnaps Princess Amelia right before her coronation, it's up to Barbie and her friends to rescue her in time. The new trailer contains footage for some songs we've already heard as well as a new one that features Ken. Unfortunately, I can't say I'm any more impressed with these new bubble gum pop song clips as I was with the ones I had already seen.

Now that Elena has been crowned queen, there are no more new episodes of princess shows to look forward to. The future of movie theaters is still uncertain, so we much watch all our favorite new releases from home now on streaming services. Disney's Mulan is an experimental project to see if they can at least come close to their theatrical budget by charging an additional fee for subscribers to watch the movie from home. Secret Society of Second-Born Royals is a Disney+ original that combines Disney's two biggest franchises of princesses and superheroes. Last but not least, Barbie Princess Adventure is the first Barbie musical we will see in years. It's too bad it's set in the world of the Dreamhouse Adventures series instead of creating a new fantasy kingdom like Barbie was prone to doing in the early 2000s. I hope these will not be the last new princess movies in the foreseeable future. The pandemic has taken a huge toll on the entertainment industry, so all we can do is wait and see.