'Shang-Chi' leads N.America box office for second week

Dunya News

"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," reigned supreme atop the North American box office.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Disney s "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," featuring Marvel s first leading Asian superhero, reigned supreme atop the North American box office for a second week running, taking in $35.8 million, preliminary figures showed Sunday.

The film -- which stars Chinese-Canadian actor Simu Liu as a former assassin in the shadow of an evil father (Hong Kong legend Tony Leung) -- has so far earned $145.6 million in US and Canadian theaters, industry tracker Exhibitor Relations said.

Bouncing back up to second place was sci-fi comedy "Free Guy" from 20th Century, at $5.8 million. It stars Ryan Reynolds as an everyman bank teller who discovers he s actually a non-player character in a huge video game.

Third place went to one of the week s new films, horror movie "Malignant," which earned $5.6 million.

Industry analyst David A Gross, who runs Franchise Entertainment Research, called it a "weak opening for a genre that s held up well during the pandemic." Final box office figures are due out on Monday.

In fourth place was Universal s slasher film "Candyman," a reimagining of the classic 1992 film of the same name. It took in $4.8 million this past weekend, and so far has earned $48 million overall in North America.

Disney s family adventure film "Jungle Cruise" came in at number five, at $2.4 million.