Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has debuted to record-breaking numbers at the box office.
The Marvel film, which was released on September 3, set a new Labor Day record with an estimated $83.5 million domestic total in its four-day opening (that's $71.4 million across its first three days). The previous record-holder was 2007's Halloween remake, which netted just over $30 million at the domestic box office in its Labor Day opening. Shang-Chi also had the biggest opening weekend in the UK during the pandemic, scoring $7.7 million. Currently, including its estimated Labor Day performance, the film's worldwide total sits at $139.7 million. (H/T Deadline)
Black Widow had an $80 million domestic opening weekend, plus $60 million from its Disney Plus Premier Access release, but suffered a huge drop off in its second weekend, with numbers falling to $26.3 million theatrically (H/T The Atlantic) – and is now on track to be one of Marvel's lowest-grossing movies. Scarlett Johansson is also suing Disney over the release for what she says is a breach of her contract.
Shang-Chi's massive debut seems fairly solid proof that films can still find box office success as theatrical exclusives amid the pandemic. But, the highly anticipated Top Gun: Maverick was recently delayed until May 2022, and Venom 2 might (or might not) be moving to January 2022 – though whether studios continue to push back movies following Shang-Chi's record-setting performance remains to be seen.
The MCU's next big-screen release is Eternals, which is set to arrive this November 5 as part of Marvel Phase 4. Until then, check out how to watch Marvel movies in order to get up to speed on the MCU.
