Shang-Chi triumphs again at US box office as Malignant misfires

Los Angeles

MARVEL'S Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ruled the North American box office again, collecting US$35.8 million in its second weekend in cinemas.

Ticket sales for the superhero movie, led by Simu Liu and Awkwafina, fell 53 per cent from its debut, a decline on par with many Marvel instalments in pre-pandemic times.

Notably, Shang-Chi is holding up better than Black Widow, the comic-book adaptation starring Scarlett Johansson, which plummeted nearly 70 per cent in its sophomore outing.

Black Widow opened simultaneously on Disney+ (for an extra US$30), while Shang-Chi is playing only in cinemas.

Box office receipts for Shang-Chi appear to be encouraging to Disney, with the studio announcing last week that the rest of its 2021 slate - including Marvel's Eternals and Steven Spielberg's adaptation of West Side Story - will all screen exclusively in theatres.

The news is especially promising to cinema operators, because Disney films are routinely among the highest-grossing of the year and most multiplexes in the US and Canada have been struggling to sell tickets to movies that are also available at home on streaming platforms.

Last weekend's only new nationwide release, the Warner Bros horror film Malignant, was no match for Shang-Chi, with the twisted thriller debuting to US$5.57 million from 3,485 locations.

That is a tepid result as horror has been a reliable big-screen offering during the pandemic, and the film's director James Wan, co-creator of The Conjuring and the Saw franchise, has a solid track record when it comes to cinematic scares.

But a bonkers twist ending, as well as decent reviews for the genre (75 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes), were not enough to entice audiences to watch a movie that, like each of the studio's 2021 releases, is available on HBO Max at the same time.

It landed a lowly "C" grade on CinemaScore, which does not bode well for its future prospects.

Overseas, Malignant made US$6.3 million from 69 international markets for an international total of US$9.5 million and a global tally of US$15.1 million.

"This is a weak opening for a genre that's held up well during the pandemic," says David Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. "With the film available on HBO, this start is below average."

To put Malignant's muted opening weekend ticket sales into perspective, it generated nearly the same amount as Free Guy, Disney's sci-fi action comedy with Ryan Reynolds, did in its fifth weekend of release.

In second place, Free Guy pocketed US$5.8 million from 3,650 venues, boosting its North American tally to US$101.5 million, an impressive sum for an original property.

Universal's slasher film Candyman nabbed the No 4 spot with US$4.8 million from 3,279 locations. After three weeks in cinemas, the movie had amassed

US$48 million in the US and Canada and an additional US$10.9 million internationally. Disney's family adventure Jungle Cruise rounded out the top five, pulling in US$2.4 million in its seventh week since it was released. REUTERS