Walt Disney’s animated classic film, Mulan, became an instant success when the cartoon was released in 1998. A recent announcement has been made that Disney bought a script from writers Elizabeth Martin and Lauren Hynek for a live-action rendition of the classic cartoon hit.

Adaptations of Mulan have come to life before with the release of Mulan: Rise of a Warrior in 2009, a Chinese film that highlighted the action aspect of the film, glorifying Mulan fighting her way through war against the Huns. Although there is not a lot of information on this alleged performance, there are many fans who hope the original voice of Mulan, Ming-Na Wen, will play Mulan live.

Disney has had major success in their recent live-action performances of classic animated films. The recently released film Cinderella, starring Lily James, earned $336.2 million worldwide. In 2010, Alice in Wonderland grossed $1.02 billion with its innovative interpretation of the beloved childhood cartoon. Another live-action film that was released recently in 2014 was the darker twist on the story of Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie as the villainess. It went on to earn a stunning $758.4 million worldwide. These results with past live-action Disney films shows great promise for the upcoming Mulan live-action depiction.

Fans have high hopes for the film, especially when it comes to casting. The importance of having Chinese actors casted for the roles in this film is a top priority for adoring fans. Protests against whitewashing the film have already taken off and an online petition with more than 30,000 signatures, has demanded for the rendition to have an Asian lead. The petition is titled “Tell Disney You Don’t Want A Whitewashed Mulan” and was founded by Natalie Molonar, who has inspired many people to join the fight against whitewashing the Chinese origin of the film. The legendary story is based on the Chinese legend of Fa/Hua Mu Lan who disguises herself as a man to fight the Huns in order to save her sickly father’s life. A recent study has shown that four percent of all female characters in Hollywood films in 2014 were Asian or Latina, a mere 11 percent identifying as African-American. Fans are determined to change these statistics in order to have a historically and ethnically correct portrayal of the story.

Fans have already started to set their hearts on their perfect dream cast. Cast lists such as Godfrey Gao as Shang and Constance Wu as Mulan have been popular picks among the public. Previously voiced by Eddie Murphy, Mushu will be an interesting task to create in a live-action film. Some Mulan fanatics hope the lively dragon will be voiced by Jackie Chan who has had voiceover experience in the popular animated DreamWorks’ film, Kung Fu Panda as Master Monkey.

Although there is no set premiere date or definite cast, people are hoping that this film will fulfill their expectations and correctly bring this beloved animated story to life.