Why Marvel’s Shang-Chi still doesn’t have a release date in China … and what the country’s media crackdown could mean for Disney and Hollywood

Sep 15 , 2021

Will Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, starring Simu Liu, get barred from a release in China? Photo: Marvel Studios via AP

After 2017 comments from leading actor Simu Liu resurfaced on social media, Shang-Chi might be barred from the world’s largest box office market

F9, Avengers: Endgame and Godzilla vs. Kong all raked in millions, but Mulan was censored in China, and Eternals – directed by Oscar winner Chloé Zhao – might be next

Disney’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a box office hit after opening with US$94 million over the four-day Labour Day weekend (September 6) in the US.

Simu Liu in the Marvel Studios film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Photo: Marvel Studios/TNS

But the film, which is the first Marvel Cinematic Universe entry headlined by an Asian character, still doesn’t have a release date in the world’s largest theatrical market: China, where foreign releases must be approved by the local government.

Deadline reported on Friday, September 10, that a date may be out of reach after 2017 comments made by star Simu Liu resurfaced this week on Chinese social media, in which Liu called China a “third world” country.

CBC’s interview for Canada’s 150th anniversary has been taken down from YouTube, but screenshots of Simu Liu’s section can be found on Weibo. Photo: 帝吧官微/Weibo

The film had already faced controversy over the title character’s comic book history. When first introduced in 1973, Shang-Chi’s father was Fu Manchu, a character now considered to have perpetuated racist Asian stereotypes. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has addressed Shang-Chi’s comic history, which has been rewritten multiple times over the years.

“Definitively, Fu Manchu is not in this movie, is not Shang-Chi’s father, and again, is not even a Marvel character, and hasn’t been for decades,” Feige told Variety last month.

Fu Manchu, Shang-Chi’s father in the original comics is synonymous with racist Asian stereotypes. Photo: @SpawnofVenom/Twitter

But beyond any concerns about the movie itself, Shang-Chi’s China release, or lack thereof, reflects the country’s media crackdown and the changing nature of its relationship with Hollywood, which has relied on the China box office to boost big budget tentpoles. (Disney did not return a request for comment for this story.)

China’s crackdown is hurting Disney

Yifei Liu stars as the title character in Mulan. Photo: Disney Enterprises/TNS

Aynne Kokas, a media studies professor at the University of Virginia and the author of the book Hollywood Made in China, said that the Shang-Chi controversy is happening “in parallel with widespread tightening” of China media and its film market.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x