For fourteen years, Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake has reigned as the highest-grossing movie released over the Labor Day weekend after the slasher brought in $26 million Friday-Sunday, and $30 million over the four-day frame. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was always going to demolish those numbers, but it looks as though the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is set to fly even higher than the most optimistic of projections.
As recently as the beginning of the week, Destin Daniel Cretton’s comic book blockbuster was tracking in the $45-55 million range, which would rank as the lowest-grossing debut ever for the MCU. However, after a strong Thursday and an even better Friday, the fantasy martial arts actioner is now on course to hit $70 million by the end of tomorrow, and $86 million across the Labor Day holiday.
If it edges out Fast & Furious 9, which hovered around $70 million in its first three days, then that would give Kevin Feige’s franchise the two biggest opening weekends of the pandemic era, once again cementing the MCU as the undisputed ruler of the box office no matter the circumstances.
That would also put Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings above the debuts of The Incredible Hulk, Ant-Man, Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor, meaning that it would be nowhere near the bottom of the pile. With the Delta variant surging and audiences wary of returning to the theaters, the movie opening $15-20 million above projections would be an incredible feat.