‘Shang-Chi’s’ box office success should surprise no one
But what does it mean for the movie business in the future?
The box office success of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the first entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to feature an Asian lead, is a welcome boost to theatre owners still contending with the uncertainty the Covid-19 pandemic brought to the motion picture industry.
Walt Disney Co. film’s $90-million (Dh330.5m) four-day opening weekend in the US and Canada obliterated the previous record for a Labor Day weekend, which is typically an end-of-summer quiet time for Hollywood (the displaced record holder was Rob Zombie’s 2007 Halloween at $30.6 million).
On one hand, the financial results from the film, starring Simu Liu, Awkwafina and Hong Kong cinema great Tony Leung, among others, should surprise no one. It’s the first Marvel movie since Spider-Man: Far From Home to be released only in theatres, rather than getting a same-day online release like Black Widow. And it’s yet another validation of the benefit of having inclusive storytelling in major blockbusters.
ENCOURAGING SIGNS
To theatre operators, it’s the latest encouraging sign that audiences are willing to return to the big screen when there are movies they want to see.
AMC Theatres, the world’s largest circuit, said this was the first time that its attendance numbers exceeded those of the same weekend pre-pandemic. AMC’s share price increased 9 per cent to $47.83 on Tuesday.
The larger question, though, is how the recent run of new movies will affect studios’ decisions about whether to hold onto their current release plans or continue to delay big movies or send them to streaming services.
Paramount Pictures last week delayed Top Gun: Maverick from its November release date to May, shortly after the studio showcased footage of the film for eager exhibitors in Las Vegas at CinemaCon. Sony Pictures is selling the rights to Hotel Transylvania 4 to Amazon Prime, and MGM has decided to release The Addams Family 2 to premium video ondemand and in theatres at the same time.
But on the heels of Shang-Chi, Sony said it would release the bigbudget Marvel sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage two weeks earlier than expected, on October 1. Shawn Robbins, a senior analyst at Boxoffice Pro, said the Shang-Chi release could be a confidence boost for distributors.
“I’m sure studios went back to work this week feeling more confident releasing movies this fall in theatres than they did a week ago,” Robbins said. “Moviegoing is ready to come back at a certain level. The pandemic is going to be here through the end of the year and will continue to be here into next year, and people are learning to live with it, and we’re starting to see that at the box office.”
Theatres have implored studios to keep their Fall movie schedules intact, and just as importantly, to release them only in theaters. Shang-Chi’s winning numbers should bolster their case, analysts said. Disney has said Shang-Chi will be only in theatres for 45 days before being available in the home.
Another recent Disney release, Free Guy, which also got a 45-day theatrical window, has shown strong staying power with $94.4 million domestically over four weeks. Universal Pictures recently released the horror reboot Candyman exclusively on the big screen, grossing a solid $41.9 million in its first two weeks.
NO FLASH IN THE PAN
“This is not a flash in the pan, this is not an anomaly, this is a trend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst at Comscore. “For studios that are in boardrooms every day trying to make decisions about their release plans, this at least gives hope to the notion that movies can do well in theaters. For movie theatres, this is another arrow in the quiver.”
Shang-Chi’s three-day gross (not counting the Monday holiday) was $75.5 million, slightly less than Black Widow. But comparisons are flawed because Shang-Chi was previously little known to people other than comic book devotees, while Black Widow has been a major fixture in the MCU since 2010’s Iron Man 2.
Outside the US, ShangChi did worse than Black Widow in the markets where both were released.
Most of Southeast Asia is currently closed, 70 per cent of Australia’s box office market is in lockdown and places like Japan and South Korea are contending with surges.
Free Guy was approved for a Chinese release, but only got the green light a week before hitting theatres, making marketing a challenge. Nonetheless,
Free Guy has done well in the country, staying at No. 1 for two straight weeks.
Black Widow still has not received a Chinese release date.