Marvel Studios officially greenlit a sequel to its Labor Day blockbuster Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on Monday. Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Destin Daniel Cretton will return to direct the continuation as part of a new multi-year overall deal he signed with Marvel and Hulu’s Onyx Collective, according to Deadline.
The Hawaiian 43-year-old said in a statement that “Working on Shang-Chi with Kevin and the Marvel Studios team was one of the highlights of my life.” The filmmaker added, “And I couldn’t be more excited about Onyx president Tara Duncan’s vision for Onyx Collective. I can’t wait to explore new stories and build new worlds with this community!”
Previously, the sequel was hinted during the mid-credits scene where Carol Danvers played by Brie Larson, and Bruce Banner played by Mark Ruffalo ask Xu Shang Chi aka Simu Liu about the rings’ origin. Moreover, the post-credits scene revealed Shang’s sister Xu Xialing played by Meng’er Zhang is the new leader of the Ten Rings, training women alongside men, rather than disbanding the clandestine criminal organization.
Meanwhile, the Daily Show’s Ronny Chieng, who played Xialing’s right-hand man Jon Jon also expressed his excitement for the sequel in his native Malaysian through his Instastory. Shang-Chi star Simu Liu also took to Twitter to express his excitement. He tweeted, “Flopped so hard we got a sequel!!”
Shang-Chi The Legend Of Ten Rings, also starring Michelle Yeoh, Awkwafina, Ben Kingsley, Florian Munteanu, and Benedict Wong garnered $431.9M at the global box office despite the coronavirus pandemic. The MCU movie impressively scored a ‘certified fresh’ 91% critic approval rating out of 320 reviews and a 98% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Shang-Chi The Legend Of Ten Rings is up for five trophies including the best movie of 2021 at the fan-voted 47th People’s Choice Awards, which aired Tuesday on NBC/E!.
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