Labor Day Weekend Box Office Success
Recently, Marvel’s new movie, “Shang-Chi” earned approximately $90 million over the four-day weekend, which broke previous Labor Day records. The previous record holder was 2007’s “Halloween” remake, earning approximately $30.5 million in its first four days. Furthermore, “Shang-Chi” earned approximately $75.5 million during the three-day weekend. But the additional day brought them closer to $90 million. The film was released in only 4,300 theaters.
This is eye-opening news since this movie succeeded despite a global pandemic. But, it also tells us that people crave diverse stories. Evidently, “Shang-Chi” is the first MCU film that has an Asian lead as a superhero; Simu Liu portrays him and the movie stars a primarily Asian cast. Of actors included in the cast, are big names like Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Meng’er Zhang, and Michelle Yeoh.
Global Success of Shang-Chi
Internationally, Marvel’s “Shang-Chi” accumulated approximately $56.2 million, hindered only by the fact that the film didn’t have a release date in China. That appears detrimental as the film is portraying the Chinese culture with a lengendary heroic lead. Nevertheless, Globally, “Shang-Chi” has made $146.2 million so far.
Disney Plus’ New Tactic Regarding Digital Releases
Streaming giant, Disney Plus, has momentarily changed its policy of same day premieres to exclusively in theaters for its first 45 days. Afterwhich, the film is expected to be available to stream. While, initially, it appeared that success was booming with same day premieres, Disney began to notice a drop. The drop accounted for early release making piracy happen early on when movies have to greater chance to build up earnings.
Behind the Scenes at Disney Plus
With that knowledge, Marvel/Disney had to come up with a better strategy for their blockbuster films. And, it appears, Shang-Chi may be the experimental debut on how to achieve successful market outside of theaters and possible adjustments for future premium releases. All in all, it would seem Shang-Chi’s second week numbers will be on the rise as opposed to Black Widow because of its exclusivity. Thus, Disney will have to create a new model to tackle the variable of online piracy.
Another factor was Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit in which she alleged that disney withheld earnings from its Disney Plus, simultaneous premiere sales. Of course, Disney wants to avoid another possible lawsuit. Additionally, this could mean that if no viable road is found, the streaming giant may stick to exclusive releases from this point on.
