/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/JEUL2B5V7BJCFMRTKGOS3ZSN4Y.jpg "Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ law breaches international rights standards – European rights body")
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/DYF5BFEE4JNPJLNCVUO65UKU6U.jpg "The curious case of a map and a disappearing Taiwan minister at U.S. democracy summit")
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/UF7R3GWJGNMQBMFSDN7PJNRJ5Y.jpg "Blinken touts deeper U.S. engagement amid concern over ‘aggressive’ China")
Despite concerns about the Delta variant of COVID-19, Marvel’s newest hero is ripping open the box office.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Marvel’s first superhero film to revolve around an Asian lead role, grossed $ 71.4 million domestically over three days this weekend and is expected to hit $ 83.5 million by Labor Day Ingesting US dollars, reports Variety. That easily sets a new record for the largest Labor Day domestic opening weekend ever, beating the $ 30 million record set for Halloween in 2007. The loot was seen as pretty impressive, especially since the film is about a new character unknown to the general audience, and Shang-Chi made the second-best three-day debut of the pandemic behind Marvel’s previous film, Black Widow.
More importantly, however, it was an impressive opening too, considering that COVID-19 cases have been on the rise in recent weeks, which left some experts unsure of the movie’s box office prospects. Unlike Black Widow, Shang-Chi was released in theaters exclusively and couldn’t be streamed online, although it will appear on Disney + after 45 days. So Hollywood has been keeping a close eye on Shang-Chi’s performance to see if the films scheduled for the fall can make a strong business, and Disney CEO Bob Chapek described the film’s release strategy as an “interesting experiment,” which is “another data point for inform our future promotions about our titles. ”
So the opening of Shang-Chi could indicate that Disney will debut its upcoming films like Eternals rather exclusively in theaters without a simultaneous streaming release. It could also increase the studios’ confidence in releasing tentpoles like No Time to Die and Spider-Man: No Way Home in theaters rather than postponing them again.
However, that does not mean that the film calendar will not be affected by the delta variant at all. Before Shang-Chi opened, concerns about COVID-19 prompted Paramount Pictures to postpone two highly anticipated fall releases, Top Gun: Maverick and Jackass Forever, to 2022.
