Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings expected to perform poorly at box office

In the wake of Black Widow failing to break-even, with the lead actress attempting to sue Disney, the box office tracking for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has been revealed. The film is currently expected to earn between $35-$55 million domestically over the course of its opening weekend. Naturally this would not be good for a film estimated to have a budget of around $150-$200m which also racked up additional costs during production delays.

In an attempt to try and acknowledge this, while playing damage control, Bob Chapek CEO of The Walt Disney Company has remarked on using Shang-Chi as an experiment in regards to it having a 45 day theatrical release window before the film is added to Disney+, a move which may result in many skipping the movie in cinema.

Simu Liu who plays Shang-Chi in the new film has struck back against Bob Chapek:

 

Although many feel that Simu Liu is trying to politicise Shang-Chi in the hopes of drawing attention to the movie in the hopes of increasing box office returns. It remains to be seen how the studio and Simu Liu may react if the movie does indeed underperform - however I would expect more Phase 4 delays are a possibility.