‘Shang-Chi’ Remains No. 1

Hollywoodreporter.com: Shang-Chi remains atop the box office charts in its second weekend with a domestic haul of $35.8 million.

The superhero standalone, which is playing in 4,300 theaters, has a cume-to-date of $145.6 million. The PG-13 movie, which boasts an A Cinemascore, stars Simu Liu as Marvel’s newest hero and is the studio’s first to center on an Asian lead.

Shang-Chi now boasts the largest second weekend since the start of the pandemic, besting Black Widow’s $25.8 million. In its opening weekend, the Marvel feature grossed a massive $90 million and had the second-biggest three-day debut of the pandemic year so far, coming in behind fellow Marvel Studios pic Black Widow and above Universal’s F9. Unlike Black Widow, which premiered day-and-date in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access, Shang-Chi is exclusively in theaters.

Coming in a (distant) second is another Disney release that continues to prove its holding power. In its fifth week in theaters, Ryan Reynolds starter Free Guy fell 32 percent, crossing over the $100 million marks at the domestic box office with a cume to date of $101.8 million.

Both Shang-Chi and Free Guy performed well on larger format screens. The former pulled in $5.3 million at IMAX theaters for the weekend for a cume of $21 million, while the later earned $1.7 million for a total of $19.7 million.

Coming in third is Warner Bros./New Line title Malignant in its first weekend in release, with a tepid $5.57 million from 3,500 locations. Internationally, the pic took in an estimated $6.3 million, for an international cume of $9.5 million, making its worldwide total $15.1 million. The R-rate horror from James Wan stars Annabelle Wallis as a woman who has visions about violence only to realize that it is all real. The feature fared poorly with critics with a 42 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a C CinemaScore. Like all of Warner Bros. 2022 slate, Malignant premiered day-and-date in theaters and on HBO Max.

Rounding out the top five are horror Candyman and family action-comedy The Jungle Cruise. The MGM and Universal slasher earned $4.8 million in its third weekend in release at 3,200 locations, falling 53 percent, for a domestic total of $48 million. The Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt two-hander pulled in $2.4 million for a domestic total of $109.9 million after seven weeks in theaters.