It feels like a while since we’ve gotten a new new Marvel movie. Avengers: Endgame was the last huge step forward for the franchise. Spider-Man: Far From Home dealt with the fallout and Black Widow took place in the past, but Marvel is finally ready to take things into the future with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, starring Simu Liu as the heir apparently to the powerful Ten Rings crime syndicate. He tried to live his life apart from it, but when his past comes calling, he has little choice but to answer.
Marvel is hyping the movie ahead of its release date early next month. It just dropped the first official clip, which features Shang-Chi and his friend Katy (Awkwafina) running from masked assassins amid some high-rise scaffolding. Watch below!
The action looks good! Although honestly my favorite part might be that soundtrack…
Simu Liu shades Disney CEO over Shang-Chi comments: “We are not an interesting experiment”
Liu got some attention recently for calling out Disney CEO Bob Chapek. The other week, Chapek talked about Disney’s release strategy in an earnings call; instead of making the movie available for an extra on Disney+ at the same time as it’s released in theaters, which is what the studio did with Black Widow, Shang-Chi will be exclusively in theaters for a shorter-than-usual period of 45 before becoming available elsewhere; Chapek called the strategy an “interesting experiment.”
Apparently, those words did not sit well with Liu, who said on his Instagram, “We are not an ‘interesting experiment.’
"We are the underdog; the underestimated. We are the ceiling-breakers. We are the celebration of culture and joy that will persevere after an embattled year.We are the surprise.I’m fired the f**k up to make history on September 3rd; JOIN US."
Reading this, it sounds like Liu is is hitting back at Chapek as if the executive belittled the movie itself, when he was just talking about the release strategy; there has been a lot of experimentation with release dates during the COVID-19 pandemic — releasing movies exclusively in movie theaters is risky because no one wants to go to the theater while the virus is spreading, and releasing it through streaming can backfire because it can tick off the creatives who sue you for millions of dollars. The 45-day window is something new. I personally don’t see animosity in the “interesting experiment” comment.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will release on September 3…only in theaters.
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