Disney and Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is on pace to be the biggest Labor Day box office opening weekend of all-time.
Variety reports the first Asian-led superhero film in the MCU is set to bring in $75 million to $85 million in its four-day debut, nearly tripling the Labor Day weekend record previously held by 2007’s Halloween, which earned $30.6 million over the four-day frame.
Shang-Chi, which is premiering exclusively in theaters as opposed to the recent hybrid release model, posted the third-best opening day during the pandemic with $29.6 million in Friday ticket sales from 4,300 locations. Internationally, it has grossed $23.4 million, bringing Shang-Chi‘s combined haul to $53 million.
The news arrives just a month after star Simu Liu called out Disney CEO Bob Chapek for referring to the film’s release as an “interesting experiment” during the company’s Q3 earnings call.
“We are not an experiment. We are the underdog; the underestimated,” Liu, who plays the movie’s titular protagonist, wrote on social media. “We are the ceiling-breakers. We are the celebration of culture and joy that will persevere after an embattled year. We are the surprise. I’m fired the f**k up to make history on September 3rd; JOIN US.”
During an interview with Complex this week, Liu spoke about how seeing an Asian superhero on the big screen would’ve impacted him as a kid.
“I think it would have made me feel proud of where I came from,” Liu explained. “I think it would have made me proud of my face, proud of my language, of my culture. And not having that meant that, you know, I kind of inherently knew that those things were ‘other.’ And those things weren’t desirable. And so, I grew up ashamed to be Asian. I just hope that kids watching this movie will be proud instead.”
