Marvel Studios’ Phase 4 is here and with it comes a bunch of uncertainty. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings isn’t scheduled to hit theaters until 2021, but Kevin Feige recently said that the film will head into production soon. In a talk with the New York Film Academy, the Marvel Studios president talked about a number of projects coming up soon. The Eternals, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Shang-Chi are looking like they will probably be the wildest departures that Marvel has had in their movies so far. So, this isn’t going to be just a straightforward kung-fu movie and that should intrigue fans a lot heading forward. The general uncertainty surrounding Phases 4 and 5 have led most fans to chomp at the bit for any and all information about where this ship is headed.
Feige began, “I went to my then assistant Jonathan Schwartz, who is now in Australia producing Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings that goes into production in a few months.” The head man also added that, “Shang-Chi is going to be so much more than a kung-fu movie, but it has elements of that which we’re excited about.”
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Star Simu Liu is also on record about how big he thinks this film has to potential to be. He told the South China Morning Post that he believes the movie could “change the world.” Now, that seems pretty lofty, but as the last few years have shown, representation matters. Who knows what future filmmaker or artist could be inspired by seeing a story featuring a character that looks like them up on the big screen.
“To take a quote from Stan Lee, the legend himself, ‘With great power there must also come great responsibility’,” he began. “But I think the reason I have the platform I do is because I’ve leaned into my Asianness. If you are going to ask an entire population to support you, to rally behind you and give you a platform, I won’t shy away from that responsibility. I feel like we’ve been shying away from it as people for too long, especially the children of immigrants who are taught to keep their heads down. We have reached the limit of that philosophy.”
Destin Daniel Cretton (Short Term 12, The Glass Castle) is at the helm for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on a script by Wonder Woman 1984‘s David Callaham. Awkwafina and Tony Chiu-Wai Leung will be along for the film, and the latter is slated to be playing The Mandarin.
