‘Shang-Chi’ aims to keep box-office crown over ‘Cry Macho’

Los Angeles : Canadian actor Simu Liu’s superhero movie ‘Shang Chi’ is aiming to lead the international box-office over actor Clint Eastwood’s film ‘Cry Macho’.The superhero adventure is projected to generate roughly $17 million between Friday and Sunday, which would represent a decline of around 50 per cent from the weekend prior.Though two new movies, ‘Cry Macho’ and ‘Copshop’ starring Gerard Butler are opening nationwide, neither are expected to defeat ‘Shang-Chi’ on domestic box office charts, reports variety.com.Since its release in theaters, ‘Shang-Chi’ has amassed $146 million in the US and Canada and looks on pace to become the first pandemic-era release to cross $200 million at the domestic box office.So far, no movie has been able to crack that milestone but Disney and Marvel’s ‘Black Widow'” and Universal’s ‘F9: The Fast Saga’ have come closest.In pre-Covid times, it wouldn’t have been particularly notable for ‘Shang-Chi’ to hit $200 million in North America.

‘Shang-Chi’ is one of the studio’s few releases to debut only in theatres, a method it plans to continue through the remainder of 2021 with films including Marvel’s ‘Eternals’ and Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ remake.Among new releases, ‘Cry Macho’ will likely pull ahead of ‘Copshop’, but both films are targeting single-digit debuts, according to variety.com.’Cry Macho’ is projected to earn between $5 million to $7 million from 3,800 theatres.Unless the $33 million-budgeted film defies expectations and manages to draw notable crowds, it’ll be the latest Warner Bros. film to tumble out of the gate while premiering simultaneously on HBO Max.Eastwood’s ‘The Mule’ was a commercial success, earning $100 million in the US and Canada and $174 million globally in 2019.However, his 2018 dramas ‘Richard Jewell’ and ‘The 15:17 to Paris’ failed to resonate with audiences and tapped out with $22 million and $36 million, respectively, in North America.’Cry Macho’ takes place in the late 1970s and follows a former Texas rodeo star (Eastwood) who agrees to help his former boss (played by Dwight Yoakam) extricate his son in Mexico.’Copshop’, an action thriller starring Butler and Frank Grillo.