Disney's newest Marvel hit, "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," obliterated Labor Day weekend box office records, bringing in a whopping $75.5 million over three days. It's projected to bring in $90 million for the full four-day weekend, according to Comscore.
Why it matters: It's three-day opening was the second-highest so far during the pandemic after Disney's other Marvel hit, "Black Widow," proving the power of the Marvel franchise to lure people to theaters.
- The previous Labor Day record-holder was MGM's horror film "Halloween," which earned just over $30 million during the long weekend in 2007.
Be smart: "Shang-Chi" was expected to do well in part because it didn't have much competition over the weekend and because of the way it was released.
- It was the first Marvel film Disney made available exclusively in theaters since the pandemic began.
- The film has so far brought in over $127 million in total global box office sales, according to Comscore.
Asian turnout helped to fuel ticket sales for Hollywood’s first big-budget, Asian-led superhero film. According to Bloomberg, citing figures from Disney, Asian filmgoers "represented about 17% of theater attendees over the weekend, more than double the usual turnout for a Marvel film."...
- Advocates for greater and more accurate Asian representation will likely view these numbers as indication that the story of Shang-Chi transcended its ethnic origins. It has a 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, a movie review website.
- Despite Asian people being the world’s majority and the fastest growing group of racial or ethnic people in the