After three straight weeks at the top of the box office, Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is poised to become the #1 domestic movie of 2021. The film currently sits at just under $177M, which puts it ahead of A Quiet Place 2 ($160M) and F9: The Fast Saga ($172M), however just shy of the $183M of another Marvel Studios film, Black Widow.
At the current pace, Shang-Chi should surpass Black Widow in about a week. It did have an advantage, being the first Marvel movie to open exclusively in theaters since the pandemic.
That said, these are really strong numbers especially when factoring in questions about the viability of a superhero movie with an Asian-American lead and a largely Asian cast. Those concerns, silly as they were, should be quieted for now. There has been little fall-off from audiences who have become accustomed to seeing Marvel content on Disney+ whenever they feel like it.
Worldwide, Shang-Chi has $320M, placing it sixth and about $500M short of the #1 movie in the world, Chinese comedy Hi, Mom.
Marvel’s next film, Eternals, opens on November 5th.
