Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is the first film to cross $200 million at the domestic box office since February 2020 when Bad Boys For Life hit theaters. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is the latest entry from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is currently in the early stages of Phase Four. Starring Simu Liu, Tony Leung, Awkwafina, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Yeoh and Meng'er Zhang, the film has enjoyed a successful, theatrical-only release after Disney reversed their strategy to release their films day-and-date in theaters and on Premier Access via Disney+.
In contrast, the last MCU film, Scarlett Johansson sued Disney for the move, which presumably cost her tens of millions of dollars, and recently settled her lawsuit with the company. Disney has since altered their release strategy and back-end deals to adapt to the post-pandemic environment, even as the box office seems poised to bounce back, even if in a shortened theatrical window.
Now comes word (via Bad Boys For Life back in February of 2020. Theaters began shutting down due to the spread of Covid-19 in March 2020 and this marks the first time it has matched ticket sales since that time. Shang-Chi is sitting at $366 million globally, and is expected to sur Black Widow's final cume of $378 million before it heads to Blu-ray, DVD, and digital, as well as streaming on Disney+ in November.
Disney is also enjoying the success of Ryan Reynold's Spider-Man: Far From Home, racked up $390 million domestically and $1.1 billion globally (in pre-Covid times).
With studios struggling on how to release their tentpole films for the last year and a half, seeing a movie like Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings bounce the box office back so strongly is a welcome sight. An untested, mostly unknown Asian Marvel superhero making box office waves like this is unprecedented and could be looked at as either a singular phenomenon or a preview of things to come as audiences get more and more comfortable in returning to the box office. Marvel seems to have switched their position on day-and-date releases, but other studios like WB are holding strong to the model, with their releases including heading to theaters and HBO Max at the same time. While audiences have adapted to the streaming model, many have also found it refreshing to step outside their doors after having been locked up in their homes for so long. Time will tell how close the box office is to being back and much of it will be dictated by the quality of the content.
Source: The Wrap
