The competition to make the first live-action Mulan is on! With Sony announcing their remake about a month ago, and Disney getting onto the horse not too long ago themselves, it was only a matter of time before one of the projects came out ahead by announcing a director. Despite Disney's best efforts, their attempts to woo director Ang Lee as their ace in the hole did not work out, which left Sony a chance to advance in the field. And they've taken it, as the Sony remake has announced director Alex Graves as their champion.

Deadline landed the announcement, as the Sony variant of Mulan was also further clarified to be a more internationally minded project. With the announcement of a Chinese lead to be determined, as well as the film's status as a Chinese co-production, Graves' participation was officially made public. Mostly known as a television director, Alex Graves has episodes of shows such as House of Cards, Homeland, and Game of Thrones on his resume - with two really early features starting his directing career in the mid 90's. Though, to be honest, directing 6 episodes of Game of Thrones is probably the equivalent of directing two mid- to high-budget fantasy films.

Considering that Sony's Mulan won't have the pedigree that the Disney remake is inheriting from its 1998 counterpart, this parallel project can afford to take a different approach to the legendary source material. The story of Hua Mulan, the legendary woman who defied an empire in order to save it, could be adapted into a more action packed version of the historical legend, rather than the more musically inclined version that Disney is undoubtedly cooking up. Much like the competing versions of The Jungle Book between Disney and Warner Bros, the competition won't be decided by release dates alone, but rather styles of approach.

Though, when it comes to release dates, the Sony project currently has no dates in mind as of yet. Disney, on the other hand, has penciled in a November 2, 2018 release date for their Mulan adaptation; but this could always change since their own director's hunt has hit a bit of a snag. We'll see in the weeks to come if Sony or Disney can make up the ground that the competition has gained, and whenever we hear something new, you'll be the first to know!