Credit – Marvel Studios/Disney
So , ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ is a success or at least it’s on a trajectory towards being a success. At least that’s what the box office numbers seem to foreshadow. But, is it really a success? Usually, in order for a movie to be a success, it needs to be profitable. Will ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ be profitable? Probably…but barely. When we say a movie is profitable, we are talking about a movie surpassing its total budget cost. Which means the production cost plus marketing cost(double the production cost). So, if ‘Shang-Chi’s’ production budget was $150 million then that means it would need to make $300 million at the bare minimum to break even. Right now it’s on track to do that as it sits at $258.9 million globally. But…’Shang-Chi’ is barely going to make a profit. The problem ‘Shang-Chi’ has, is that it is severely underperforming overseas plus it doesn’t have a China release and that takes a big chunk out of its potential profits. On the average, most domestic released movies make more overseas than they do domestically. ‘Shang-Chi’s’ domestic haul is $146.9 million and its international haul is $112 million and that’s only going to go down as the days and weeks go by. When all is said and done, ‘Shang-Chi’ is probably going to go down as the fifth worst MCU released movie of all time not to mention one of the least profitable. When you compare it to the MCU movies it’s closest in ranking to, I would not be that impressed if I were Kevin Feige and Marvel. The movies I am referring to are ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’, ‘Thor’, ‘The Incredible Hulk’, and ‘Ant-Man’. Those movies were inaugural movies for their trilogies and also made quite a bit of profit for Marvel Studios. Not to mention, if we were to adjust for inflation, ‘Shang-Chi’ might end up near dead last.
‘Shang-Chi’ Will Quantify as a Success For Marvel
So the mainstream media outlets will probably shill for Marvel and Disney, and claim what a success ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ is by claiming it was profitable, but the fact is, ‘Shang-Chi’ will barely be profitable and that’s not going to be talked about. In other words, it’s really sad that ‘Shang-Chi’, barely making a profit, will quantify as a success. “Well, we’re in a Pandemic…things are different now”. Yes they are, but not because people are afraid to go to the movies. Did it ever occur to anyone that audiences tastes have changed or maybe they are just sick of the direction Marvel is going in for phase four and are turned off. Maybe the choice of all these unknown or unpopular characters is the reason. Or, maybe, Kevin Feige is picking these unknowns on purpose to keep the Normie fan glued to the MCU. Seems like a risky business call if you ask me. Kevin Feige has some of the greatest characters and villains at his disposal. Why not make a Silver Surfer movie, or a great Fantastic Four movie? The fans would go nuts. Why, you ask. Well because that’s not on Kevin Feige’s agenda and doesn’t fit his representation narrative. No more strong male leads and specifically no more strong white male leads.
We Are Starting to See Cracks and Chinks in Kevin Feige’s Armor
Great, so Shang-Chi is just going to break even…what happened to the days long past, like two years ago, when we were wondering not if, but how
much of a profit a Marvel movie was going to make. I’ve heard some say that Marvel is Marvel and they know what they are doing and how to be successful. That might have been true up through ‘Avengers: Endgame’, but phases one through three were planned years in advance and not only by Kevin Feige. So, I’m not convinced. I think we are starting to see cracks and chinks in Kevin Feige’s armor, that’s going to continue as more of these unknown and unwanted Marvel characters are released onto the big screen. I don’t hear anyone talking about ‘WandaVision’, ‘Falcon and The Winter Soldier’, or ‘Black Widow’. They are here one minute and gone the next. The attention span is dwindling and, for some fans, we are getting tired of seeing the same identity politics message. And I think that’s why fans are not talking about these shows and movies like they used to. Fans used to talk about the story but now are talking about the message, and I think that’s why audiences are just not that interested anymore. When a Marvel movie would come out before Endgame, all we could talk about is…”Oh my god…I can’t wait to see the next Marvel movie to see how everything ties together”. Not anymore. I think the magic is fading and fading fast. There’s only so much the fans can take before they are just exhausted talking about all the wokeness in Kevin Feige’s movies. Every media outlet hasn’t talked about ‘Shang-Chi’s story, but rather has focused on “The first Asian-American Marvel superhero”. Who cares…I loved reading Shang-Chi the Master of Kung Fu when I was a kid. But not because he was Asian, but because he was cool at kicking some ass. ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ will go down as one of the worst MCU movies ever made but touted as a grand success because it represented. Yeah, Yeah Kevin, we get it…you’re woke, you’re representing, you’re the king of all SJW’s…congratulations…next.
