As if Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings needed another feather stuck in its cap, the Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster has now achieved another notable milestone. Not content with tripling the Labor Day record last weekend and earning almost $260 million in ten days, the franchise’s 25th movie has now scored the biggest second frame at the box office since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in December 2019.
As per Forbes, the acclaimed and wildly popular martial arts fantasy epic topped the charts again this weekend with a strong hold propelling it to over $35 million, so any chances of it suffering a massive drop similar to that of MCU bedfellow Black Widow can be laid to rest once and for all.
It speaks volumes about both the success of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and the state of the industry as a whole that it marks the highest sophomore gross since The Rise of Skywalker pulled in $77 million all the way back in December 2019. That’s either encouraging or depressing depending on how you want to interpret the data, given that we’re 21 months removed from the release of Episode IX.
Even pre-pandemic titles like Bad Boys for Life and Sonic the Hedgehog couldn’t match Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which continues to blow estimates, predictions and projections clean out of the water and into the stratosphere.