The making of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was clearly a labor of love for all those involved, but it was also a movie that had more than its share of contention and controversy. Not everybody thought the movie would be a success, some even argued after its release that it wasn’t a success. However, Marvel Studios clearly thinks it was, as a sequel has officially been given the green light, and Simu Liu is more than happy to do a bit of a victory dance in response.
For anybody who called Shang-Chi a flop, star Simu Liu has a message for you. Roughly translated, it's LOL. Is he gloating? Yes, yes, he is. But considering some of the stuff he went through to get to this point, he’s allowed to gloat a little, maybe more than a little.
Flopped so hard we got a sequel!! https://t.co/69yPeuX2maDecember 6, 2021
It’s hard to argue that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings flopped by any real measure. The movie made $430 million worldwide and is the highest grossing movie of the year domestically. Even when compared to pre-pandemic box office Shang-Chi put up some solid numbers, especially for a movie that was introducing a brand new character to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It also set a box office record for the Labor Day Weekend, pandemic or otherwise.
And yet, there were those, usually among the YouTube video contingent, that seemed convinced before the movie came out that it would flop, and either became strangely silent after the movie took the box office by storm, or argued that the movie still was a flop for reasons that were never entirely clear.
Not only will Shang-Chi return in a future film, but director Destin Daniel Cretton will be back to direct the movie. Cretton is also in development on a Disney+ series for Marvel, which is likely to be a series based on the Ten Rings organization, which Shang-Chi’s sister is now running.
When we’ll actually see this movie is anybody’s guess at this point. The Marvel Cinematic Universe for the next couple years is already set, and we already have a couple movies, like Blade and Fantastic Four, that we know are going to happen, but have not been given firm release dates. That’s not to say that we won’t see the character of Shang-Chi before his sequel movie comes out. The post credits scenes of that movie already showed us that the character would have a part to play in the larger MCU going forward.
Whatever the future holds for a Shang-Chi sequel, it likely won’t have quite so many people claiming it will be a flop. The first movie proved itself a success and there’s no reason to believe the next one will be anything less. Certainly, Marvel Studios is expecting another hit.
