The Grand Cinema on Nanking Road, as the name suggests, is the biggest in Shanghai, but few people showed up for the opening of Mulan on Tuesday afternoon.
The cavernous art deco auditorium was empty down in the stalls and up in the circle, with only a few couples nestled on the red twin-seater seats.
It was a little strange since it was raining hard outside and school holidays were not yet over. In the lobby Jackie Chan was on a TV promoting the film with kickboxing and singing one of the songs from the cartoon all about how to become a nanzi han, a hardy warrior.
Mulan is about the folk legend of Hua Mulan, a heroine who disguises herself as a man to take her father's place in the fight against the invading Huns. Naturally, there are quite a few jokes about the pros and cons of cross-dressing in the Tang Dynasty.
It is also Disney's gesture towards warming up the China market after angering Beijing by releasing Kundun - a biography of the Dalai Lama. This is the first Disney film to be released for two years, and aims to emulate previous blockbuster The Lion King.
Having been released worldwide last year, it has only just come to China, despite this being, so to speak, its home base.