(Bloomberg) -- “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” led the North American box office for a fourth straight weekend, surpassing “Black Widow” as the highest domestic earner of the pandemic.

  • The Walt Disney Co. film took in $13.3 million in sales at U.S. and Canadian theaters, researcher Comscore Inc. estimated on Sunday. That fell slightly short of Boxoffice Pro’s forecast of $13.8 million. The movie generated an overall $196.5 million in domestic ticket sales.
  • “Dear Evan Hansen,” a Universal Pictures movie based on a stage play, brought about $7.5 million in its opening weekend, Comscore said. The movie was expected to make $9.6 million in its first three days, Boxoffice Pro said.

Key Insights

  • Theaters have a chance to reawaken in the coming weeks. Hollywood is about to release expensive new films that were delayed due to the pandemic or were awaiting more-favorable conditions. The big movies include the latest James Bond installment “No Time to Die,” from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the sci-fi saga “Dune” from Warner Bros. and the superhero movie “Venom: Let Their Be Carnage” from Marvel and Sony Pictures. If audiences still stay away, that will raise alarms about the pace of the industry’s recovery.
  • “Shang-Chi” has had a strong run. It had one of the more moderate openings for a Marvel movie, but ticket sales benefited from good reviews and the fact it was available only in theaters, rather than also on streaming services. Still, it hasn’t been released in the largest movie market in the world, China, with the country working through its own backlog of films it wants to show to domestic audiences.
  • “Dear Evan Hansen” took second place this week, followed by Disney’s “Free Guy,” which has been out since August. The musical from Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures stars Ben Platt and follows a teenager incorrectly assumed to be the friend of a fellow student who commits suicide. The Broadway play won a Tony, but critics had a cool reception to the film version, giving it a 37% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Get More

  • See the weekend release schedule.
  • See Box Office Pro’s long-range forecast.

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