Marvel’s latest blockbuster has hit cinemas in the form of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. And it’s going down a storm at the box office, earning a seriously impressive $90 million over its first few days, breaking a 14-year Labor Day weekend record in the process.
Reviews have also been highly positive and fans are loving it, so you might think the chances are good that Simi Liu’s hero is going to get a sequel. According to a new report, you’d be right.
Giant Freakin Robot has shared that their sources at the studio tell them Marvel has already greenlit Shang-Chi 2 and it’s just a matter of time before they make the news public. Recently, Disney announced that Ryan Reynolds action-comedy Free Guy was getting a follow-up shortly after its own opening weekend, so there’s every chance that we could get some Shang-Chi 2 news in the next couple of weeks, assuming that GFR’s intel is correct.
Considering all the signs which point to a sequel being likely, the news should be true. For instance, the film’s post-credits scenes certainly tee up Shang-Chi becoming a firmer part of the wider MCU, which is something that Marvel’s Kevin Feige has openly said is the plan. What’s more, there’s much still to be explored in the hero’s world, including the origins of the Ten Rings and what happens next to the Ten Rings organization.
Of course, at this stage, it’s hard to say who could return for the sequel, but it seems logical that Liu would be joined once again by Awkwafina, and probably Meng’er Zhang and Michelle Yeoh as well. It’s too early to have any idea whether director Destin Daniel Cretton would come back, though. As for when Shang-Chi 2 could arrive, we’d expect it to be three or four years away at least, going by the MCU’s stacked release schedule.
While we wait for this to become official, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is playing in theaters now.