The box office is already heading for its most lucrative month in a long time thanks to today’s release of Venom: Let There Be Carnage being followed by No Time to Die and Dune in the next few weeks, but Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has just hit what’s arguably the movie’s most important box office milestone yet.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, the 25th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has grossed $200 million domestically, making it the first film of the pandemic era to reach that mark. To put that into perspective, the last effort to hit similar heights was Bad Boys for Life, which hit theaters all the way back in January 2020.
That also means it’s only the second movie to reach $200 million since the end of 2019, and as things stand, there are absolutely no guarantees that any other upcoming title coming to cinemas before the end of the year will be able to match Shang-Chi‘s haul.
The martial arts fantasy has been exceeding expectations since day one, where it was initially projected to score a record-low opening weekend for the MCU, but by the time the dust settles on the weekend’s box office, it’ll be within touching distance of $400 million globally, with Fast & Furious 9 and Godzilla vs. Kong the only other Hollywood productions to exceed that total during the age of COVID-19.