With its Chinese-born star, exploration of Asian culture, and box office success in the United States, it looked like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings would be a hit in China. Due to its large population, U.S. films that are released there often make large amounts of box office receipts. However, China heavily regulates which U.S. films get released in the country. And prior negative comments by a person associated with a U.S. film looking to be released in China will often stop the film from being released in China.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu was born in Harbin, China, but moved to Canada at the age of five. He started in Hollywood as an extra and then a stunt double before he began to get acting roles. He is enjoying his star turn in the United States as Shang-Chi, but his old comments that were critical of China have recently resurfaced. In 2017, Liu spoke about what his parents told him about living in Communist China. His comments included referencing China as a third world country where people were dying of starvation.

Now, his 2017 interview is making its way around Chinese social media, and that is threatening Disney’s chance of having Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings be one of the few U.S. movies released in China this year. Typically, movies critical of China or with actors or crew members who are critical of China have a smaller chance of being released there. Similarly, Disney’s upcoming film Eternals will likely not be released in China due to Chloe Zhao’s (Academy Award winning director of Nomadland) prior comments about China.

It will be interesting to see what this does to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ box office and future spin off potential. China’s box office has saved several films from losing money and propelled others into sequels and more success. And in regards to Marvel, with the likelihood that both Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals possibly not being able to be released in China, it may signal a turn for Marvel to change things to not lose its chances in such a lucrative market.

Regarding what Marvel and Disney will do, they may begin to look more at maximizing the Chinese box office. While it may have been hard to predict that Simu Liu, a Chinese born actor, would have said negative comments toward China in 2017, both companies have the ability to do their research into talent and possibly even survey or analyze the data of Chinese audiences. It looked like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was an attempt to connect more with Chinese audiences with more exploration and representation of Asian culture. But that attempt may have possibly backfired due to Simu Liu’s comments.

There is a vast area for Hollywood to target in the Asian markets. Not only in regards to the mega-populous China, but India, Japan, the Philippines, and many other Asian countries are ripe for Disney and others to produce successful movies involving these diverse and rich cultures. There is also a large Asian-American population in the United States that back more movies starring Asian actors. With the recent success of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Parasite, Crazy Rich Asians, and others, the doors are opening for Asian success in Hollywood. There may be issues in China if the stars had made negative comments about China, but there are so many other avenues to travel in regards to expanding both American and Asian cinema in both markets.

Source(s): Screen Rant

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