Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings earned an estimated $35.8 million to once again win the box office battle in its second week of release.
With little competition until Dear Even Hansen debuts on September 24, and with over $145 million in the bank already domestically, Shang-Chi has an excellent chance of overcoming Black Widow as the the top earner for 2021. Black Widow amassed $182 million in theaters (and an unreported amount from purchases on Disney+), so the Master of Kung Fu should be able to at least temporarily unset his fellow Marvel hero by the end of the month.
James Wan’s latest horror film Malignant proved to be much less heroic at the box office with only $5.5 million (for third place) in its opening frame. Critics were mostly impressed with Wan’s take on the Giallo genre (with a 75% positive Tomato Meter score), but horror fans were either unaware of the film’s release or unimpressed with his work this time around (with a 51% audience Score on RT and a very low Cinemascore of C). Malignant did debut on HBO Max on the same day-and-date of its theatrical release, but other films like The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and Godzilla vs. Kong have attracted viewers to the theater, even with the ability to steam the new movies at home.
Be sure to come back next week to see if Shang-Chi can take a third round at the weekend box office.