It appears that Marvel’s new film, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” will not arrive in China, a key international market to be a box office success, becoming the first MCU film to not receive approval for be distributed in the Asian country and the second that will not be released in the country.
The reason? It would be related to the casting of the film and the perception of the plot. This will undoubtedly generate millions in losses because for years the eastern country has been the second most important box office for films from Marvel, behind only the United States and Canada.
Despite the fact that Marvel director Kevin Feige has worked to eliminate any concerns about the depictions in the film, the country has considered that the comic on which “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” was based has racist elements and are full of reductionist stereotypes.
“Between 10 and 20 percent of global gross revenue from a Marvel movie can come from the Middle Kingdom alone,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Boxoffice.com. to CNBC.
Given this, it is clear that neither Marvel nor Disney were willing to let the bans hurt their earnings, so they decided to change the play.
A successful first weekend
Disney and Marvel Studios’ “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” managed to gross an estimated $ 71.4 million at the US box office this weekend.
The above, according to CNBC data, meant that it was the second-highest aperture for any movie released during the pandemic, as well as the highest among all movies released on Labor Day weekend.
So far, the controversial “Black Widow” movie holds the highest opening title during the pandemic at $ 80 million, and the previous record for the biggest release over the holiday weekend was 2007’s “Halloween,” which grossed $ 26.3. million dollars during its first three days in US theaters.
Internationally, the new Marvel film added another $ 56.2 million in ticket sales, closing with a global estimate of $ 127.6 million for its opening weekend.
The reason for the triumph of Shang-Chi
Although the expectations of the film were many, there were also those who underestimated the public’s interest in the story and to this we must add the prohibitions of China, which are undoubtedly millionaire losses, so Disney and Marvel decided to change their strategy: release it only in theaters.
“Shang-Chi” is the first Marvel movie to be screened exclusively in theaters since the pandemic began. “Black Widow”, which premiered in July, debuted in theaters and on Disney Plus mainstream access on the same day.
This situation put companies in check, as both Scarlett Johansson and the film industry were responsible for showing their discontent to Disney and Marvel.
Despite the fact that during the coronavirus pandemic the industry was forced to opt for hybrid or digital launches to reach more people, it seems that the public today also wants to return to theaters.
However, it is too early to claim victory, as it must be remembered that despite the good performance of “Black Widow” on its opening weekend, just a week later the box office revenues plummeted, reporting a drop of 80 percent in ticket sales during their second week of opening, which angered the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO), who directly blamed Disney Plus for causing audiences to no longer want to visit theaters. cinema.
It remains to be seen the future of Shang-Chi in the market, if it will be good enough to bring people back to the cinemas and if China will not be necessary to be a success, but more importantly, if this will be a watershed. where streaming will take a back seat or simply a response to the crisis.