Marvel's newest movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is poised to become the year's highest-grossing release at the domestic box office. As it stands now, Shang-Chi is in the No. 2 spot just behind fellow Marvel Studios movie Black Widow in No. 1. Shang-Chi currently stands at just $200K behind Black Widow through Thursday's box office numbers, and it's certainly going to pass that number by the end of the day.
It's worth mentioning that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings held its release exclusively in theaters, while Black Widow had a day-and-date release coupled with Disney+. This had led to a lawsuit against Disney filed by Scarlett Johansson, and the release strategy for new blockbuster titles has since changed. Disney has now been testing theatrical releases for movies before putting them up on Disney+ at no extra charge about 45 days later, and Shang-Chi has proven how successful this can be.
Heading into this weekend, it is expected that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will maintain the No. 1 spot at the box office for four weeks in a row. The estimations are that it will pull in between $11-12 million, which gives it a lead over the $10 million projections for Universal's Dear Evan Hansen. If these numbers turn out to be accurate, Shang-Chi will be sitting at around $195 million for its total domestic haul.
Behind the two Marvel Studios movies, F9 is the third highest grossing movie at the domestic box office with $172 million, though it has the highest worldwide gross with $716 million. Stateside, what follows Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and F9 are A Quiet Place Part II at $160 million and Jungle Cruise at $113 million. In order, the titles making up the rest of the top 10 are Free Guy at $109 million, Godzilla vs. Kong at $99 million, Cruella at $86 million, Space Jam: A New Legacy at $67 million, and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It at $65 million.
Destin Daniel Cretton directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings using a screenplay he co-wrote with Dave Callaham and Andrew Lanham. Simu Liu stars in the lead role alongside Awkwafina, Meng'er Zhang, Fala Chen, Florian Munteanu, Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh, Ben Kingsley, and Tony Leung. Marvel Studios has named Shang-Chi as "the next Avenger," and for his part, Simu Liu can't wait to see the superhero rope the other Avengers into a karaoke competition.
"Ooo, I think that he would think that the Avengers were the coolest thing ever," Liu said of Shang-Chi joining the team, via Tumblr. "You're talking about a kid that spent the better part of his adult life parking cars at a valet. I think that being a part of this world saving organization of crime fighting superheroes might be a little more interesting so I definitely think he would be down if people asked. I think the other guys and gals would love him. I think he would get along and be very charming and he would rope them all up in a karaoke room and they would all be singing 'Old Town Road' together. I'd want to see that sequence."
Fans can watch Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in movie theaters now. The movie will later arrive on Disney+ for Disney+ Day on Nov. 12 along with Jungle Cruise. This news comes to us from Deadline.