Marvel’s Diverse ‘Shang-Chi’ Has a Record Debut
Disney and Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” earned more than $93 million during its four-day, theatrical-release only Labor Day opening weekend. Learn more below.
The film’s massive debut success helped AMC Entertainment see more than 2 million people at its U.S.-based theaters over the weekend, marking the highest number of admissions for Labor Day weekend in the company’s history. It’s also the first time since the pandemic began that attendance during a weekend in 2021 beat out attendance from the same weekend in 2019.
“This encouraging surge in attendance at AMC signals that as Hollywood releases movies, Americans eagerly want to return to movie theatres again,” said CEO Adam Aron in a statement Tuesday.
Starring Simu-Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Meng’er Zhang, and Michelle Yeoh, martial-arts master Shang-Chi is forced to confront the past he tried to leave behind when he’s drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization. The film currently holds a 93 percent Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score.
“The best superhero film of the year.” We Live Entertainment
The 25th Marvel Cinematic Universe feature, with plotlines inspired by Chinese folklore, received critical and audience praise for its diversity. Featuring a predominantly East Asian cast, it’s the first Asian-led stand-alone superhero movie and the first MCU film directed by an Asian American filmmaker – Destin Daniel Cretton. The fact this film is so successful is no surprise to those that understand the impact diversity has on potential moviegoers. In fact, a recent report from UCLA’s Center for Scholars & Storytellers analyzed over 100 films released from 2016 to 2019 and found that, “even after accounting for critical acclaim, big-budget films lacking in diversity make about $27 million less on their opening weekend, with a potential loss of $130 million in total.”
And Disney has no plans to stop creating diverse stories rooted in cultural identities. In 2018, following the success of “Black Panther,” Marvel studio’s head Kevin Feige was asked about diversity and told IndieWire: “I think it’s only the beginning. I think you’ll see more and more of that in front of the camera, behind the camera and that that is what is required of us as storytellers. I think there’s a lot to pull from the existing comics that they’ve been doing that for many, many years. Certainly…we want these movies to reflect the world in which they are made, and be brought to life by all types of people behind the camera.”
“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” is playing in theaters now and will be available for licensing from Swank soon.