This weekend at the domestic box office, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings reached another box office milestone that puts it in line with fellow MCU titles Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy. Since its release in early September, Shang-Chi has been a box office sensation, something that's all the more remarkable when considering all the debate that went down over its release. While Disney opted to send previous MCU title Black Widow to streaming on the same day as theaters, Shang-Chi received an exclusive theatrical run amid growing concerns over the Delta variant and rising COVID case numbers.
Nevertheless, Shang-Chi broke the Labor Day record for the biggest opening when it earned $75 million over the first 3 days, then $90 million for the entire holiday weekend. Then, in a time when some big-budget movies dropped hard in their second weekends (F9, Black Widow), the Simu Liu-starring movie continued to hold up week after week. On Saturday, Shang-Chi officially became the highest-grossing movie of 2021, surpassing Black Widow.
Per Deadline, Shang-Chi has remained atop the box office for the fourth weekend in a row. To further demonstrate its impressive staying power, Shang-Chi earned $13.3 million for the 3 days, bringing its domestic total to $196.5 million. This puts the movie on track to become the first pandemic-era film to earn over $200 million domestically. Additionally, by holding the number one spot for four weeks in a row, Shang-Chi has matched the MCU record held by Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy for the longest amount of time at the top spot.
Shang-Chi's immense success comes as this weekend's biggest new release, Dear Evan Hansen, crumbles. The musical adaptation, which stars Ben Platt, earned only $7.5 million for the weekend. Its poor box office result comes amid negative reviews, further cementing Dear Evan Hansen's place as a disappointing release. The rest of the top five was filled out by Free Guy (which has also demonstrated remarkable staying power), Candyman, and Cry Macho.
Sadly, it seems likely that Shang-Chi's time at #1 will come to an end next weekend. After weeks of smaller budget fare, Sony will finally release Venom: Let There Be Carnage on October 1. Odds are, that will end up taking the box office crown. Still, Shang-Chi has proven to be a huge hit and proof that movie theaters are coming back after the immense losses from the pandemic. It has secured its place within MCU history between the Labor Day success and its shared record with Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy. This also bodes well for Eternals in November, another MCU movie centered on new characters. There might've been a lot of debate over its financial potential this summer, but Shang-Chi has silenced the naysayers several times over.
Source: Deadline
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September 26, 2021 at 11:56PM
