Marvel Studios is unlikely to get a Chinese box office release for their latest release Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings after the film’s lead actor Simu Liu saw his comments about communist China resurface.
Deadline’s Nancy Tartaglione reports, “The prospects for Disney/Marvel’s Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings getting a China release date are dwindling.”
The reason being is Simu Liu’s comments about China in an interview he did with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation back in 2017.
As Taiwan News reports, “the Weibo account of the Chinese nationalist organization Diba posted screenshots from a CBC interview of the actor from its series “What’s Your Story” released on March 3, 2017.”
The screenshots show Liu describing the China his parents lived in as “the Third World.”
He also noted that the country had “people dying of starvation.”
Interestingly enough, the original interview with CBC has been removed from the organization’s website. And it appears to have been removed sometime in either early 2021 or late 2020 as Taiwain News notes that “Archived versions including the video appear up until November 2020.”
Liu was cast as Shang-Chi at Comic-Con 2019. The film’s director Destin Daniel Cretton introducing the actor to the stage saying, “It is a huge honor for me to introduce you to the incredible Simu Liu.”
Related: Report: Marvel’s The Eternals And Shang-Chi Might Get Banned From China
The Shang-Chi film was already on rocky ground on whether or not it would get a release in China. Back in May a report from Variety claimed that the film might get banned in China after CCTV6 China Movie Channel omitted both Eternals and Shang-Chi from an upcoming list of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Four films.
Variety’s Rebecca Davis explained why the omission was significant, “The omission might seem small, but its significance lies in its provenance: the channel is under the jurisdiction of China’s powerful propaganda department, which has the final word on film approvals.”
The film has currently earned $105.9 million at the domestic box office and $56.2 million at the international box office for a worldwide total of $162.1 million. However, it does appear the film’s legs are already fading fast as the film’s box office haul on its first Tuesday and Wednesday is less than Black Widow’s haul.
Shang-Chi brought in $6.6 million on Tuesday and $4.6 million on Wednesday. Black Widow brought in $7.7 million on its first Tuesday and $5.5 million on its first Wednesday.
What do you make of the fact that Shang-Chi more than likely won’t get a release into China?