Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings punched through a box office record with its massive $71.4 million domestic opening weekend.
This news comes by way of Variety, which reports that the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe film had the second-best pandemic-era domestic opening weekend. Its $71.4 million box office bow comes in just behind Black Widow's $80.3 million opening weekend debut and just above F9's $70 million opening haul.
Shang-Chi also broke a record held by 2007's Halloween for over a decade, according to Variety. Halloween previously held the record for the best Labor Day opening weekend, raking in $30.6 million. The long Labor Day weekend, which has notoriously been a slower weekend at the box office, was no match for Shang-Chi, however, as the movie more than doubled Halloween's box office haul.
Its $71.4 million Labor Day opening weekend now holds the record for the best Labor Day opening weekend ever at the box office. The movie pulled in an additional $56.2 million internationally, too, bringing the global box office total to $127.6 million.
Shang-Chi was released exclusively in theaters, unlike Black Widow, a movie released day-and-date on Disney Plus (which Scarlett Johansson is now suing Disney over). As Variety notes, many speculated that Black Widow's Disney Plus release might have caused box office numbers to be lower than what they would have been had the movie been released exclusively in theaters.
However, Shang-Chi seems to have performed about as well as Black Widow in theaters, although it's important to note that Shang-Chi is a new MCU character while Black Widow featured Johansson's Natasha Romanoff that has been in the MCU for well over a decade. Marvel's Shang-Chi theatrical debut performing about as well as Black Widow's theater release is quite impressive.
According to Variety, Shang-Chi's strong reception could affect future MCU movie debuts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Disney and Marvel have reportedly not made a decision regarding how The Eternals will debut, be it an exclusive release in theaters or a day-and-date release on Disney Plus like Black Widow.
Elsewhere, R-rated horror slasher, Candyman, dropped to second place at the box office behind Shang-Chi, pulling in another $10.5 million. It's on pace to bring its overall box office haul to $41.9 million after this three-day weekend, Variety writes.
Ryan Reynolds' Free Guy dipped to third and is estimated to bring in roughly $11 million this weekend, which would bring its grand total at the box office to $91.8 million. Paramount's Paw Patrol animated feature came in fourth and is estimated to bring in $5.2 million by the end of the long weekend. That would bring its grand total to $31.5 million.
Finally, Disney's Jungle Cruise finished in fifth. It's estimated to bring in $5.2 million over the entire holiday weekend, which would bring its grand total to $106.8 million. The movie's box office success earned it a greenlight from Disney for a sequel.
Check out our thoughts on Shang-Chi in IGN's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings review and then read IGN's breakdown of who Shang-Chi is in the MCU. Check out our breakdown of what the ten rings are and whether or not they are actually magical after that.
Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.