After taking the box office by storm in 2021, it’s not a huge surprise that Disney and Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is getting a sequel.
The film, which stars Simu Liu in the first-ever Asian superhero lead role for the MCU, pulled in over USD $90 million over its opening weekend — a feat that was made all the more impressive as it was Labor Day in the US which is not typically a big box office period.
This profit made Shang-Chi the second-best opening weekend of the pandemic, behind only Black Widow, which pulled in USD $80 million in its first three days.
As it currently stands, the film is the highest-grossing film at the US domestic box office with $224.5 million and has made $431.9 million at the worldwide box office so far making it the eighth highest-grossing film.
The film also stars Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Michelle Yeoh, Fala Chen, Meng’er Zhang, Florian Munteanu and Ronny Chieng and tells the story of Shang-Chi, who has been trained as an assassin since childhood by the Ten Rings terror organisation.
Having escaped the clutches of the Ten Rings, Shang-Chi tries his best to assimilate back into society and live a normal life but finds himself being drawn back into the organisation.
Filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton will return to direct and write the sequel and has recently signed an exclusive multi-year overall deal with Disney companies Marvel Studios and Onyx Collective. He is already working with Marvel on a new MCU series for Disney+.
“Destin is an amazing collaborator who brought a unique perspective and skill to Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings. We had a fantastic time working together on the film and he has so many intriguing ideas for stories to bring to life on Disney+, so we’re thrilled to expand our relationship with him and can’t wait to get started,” said Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige.
The excitement is apparently mutual with Cretton calling the experience of working on Shang-Chi with Feige and Marvel one of the highlights of my life”.
At the August global premiere of the first Shang-Chi film in Los Angeles, Liu spoke of what an honour it was to be part of such a huge moment in pop culture history.
“Because we’ve been celebrating a lot of firsts in our community — when Crazy Rich Asians came out three years ago, we celebrated that as the first studio movie with a predominantly Asian cast in almost 25 years,” the actor said.
“I’m looking forward to the moment where we no longer celebrate firsts. We’re celebrating seconds, and thirds, and fourths, and fifths. So I’ll take this moment for what it is. It is absolutely that watershed moment. But I hope that there are many more just like it afterward.”
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