SHANG-CHI
AND THE LEGEND
OF THE TEN RINGS

FROM COMIC-CON TO THE CAMERA

HOW SHANG-CHI REACHED THE SCREEN

Development of a Shang-Chi film began in earnest in December 2018, when Dave Callaham was hired to write, and Destin Daniel Cretton was hired to direct in March 2019. Simu Liu was cast on 16 July 2019 and announced at San Diego Comic-Con on 20 July, alongside Tony Leung.

Cretton said on 23 August 2021 that “for me, I just really connect with Shang-Chi,” and that the filmmakers “wanted to try to break a lot of those stereotypes.” On 8 September 2021 he explained what that meant for the characters:

“We wanted to create characters that reflected ourselves.”

Destin Daniel Cretton, 8 September 2021

SYDNEY, A SHUTDOWN AND SAN FRANCISCO

HOW THE FILM WAS SHOT

Filming began in February 2020 at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney under the working title Steamboat, halted in March 2020 because of COVID-19, resumed in August 2020, moved to San Francisco in October and wrapped on 24 October 2020. The budget was $150 million to $200 million, and Joel P. West, who had scored Cretton’s four previous films, composed the score.

A NEW HERO AND A FAMILIAR VILLAIN

WHO IS IN THE CAST

The cast includes Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Meng’er Zhang, Fala Chen, Florian Munteanu, Benedict Wong, Yuen Wah, Michelle Yeoh, Ben Kingsley and Tony Leung. Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter called Leung’s Wenwu a “supervillain with a soul.”

A THEATRICAL-ONLY EXPERIMENT

HOW THE FILM WAS RELEASED AND WHAT IT EARNED

The film moved from 7 May 2021 to 9 July 2021 and then to 3 September 2021, premiered on 16 August 2021, and opened in more than 4,200 US theatres. Disney gave it a 45-day exclusive theatrical run, unlike the simultaneous Disney+ Premier Access release of Black Widow, and it reached Disney+ on 12 November 2021. It took $75,388,688 over its three-day US opening and $94.67 million over the four-day Labor Day weekend, the largest Labor Day opening ever. It went on to earn $432.2 million worldwide, of which $224.5 million came from the US. The film never received a release in China.

THE REWATCH

A 92% CRITICS SCORE AND AN OSCAR NOMINATION

Rotten Tomatoes lists a 92% critics’ score from 344 reviews and a 98% audience score, and its consensus calls it “this exciting origin story.” Metacritic gives it 71 from 52 critics, and audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an A. The film was nominated for Best Visual Effects at the 94th Academy Awards.

In the Marvel Marathon it sits in the MCU release order guide between Deadpool and Korg React and Eternals, and in the MCU movies in order guide between Black Widow and Eternals. In the Marvel movies in release order guide it sits between Black Widow and Venom: Let There Be Carnage. In the MCU timeline guide it comes between Loki Season 2 and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.