Just a day after we heard that the Disney+ show Falcon and the Winter Soldier will soon be getting special permission from the Czech Republic to finish production, an additional entry into Marvel’s Phase Four is also getting ready to roll cameras again. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is expected to return to Australia later this month ahead of its summer 2021 release date.
The cast of Shang-Chi, which includes Simu Liu and Awkwafina, will reportedly be quarantined immediately after they arrive in Sydney as part of Marvel’s “careful steps” to get back to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Deadline reports that the film’s director, Destin Daniel Cretton, is currently prepping his return to set in late July.
The filming of Shang-Chi was disrupted one month into its production back in March when Destin Daniel Cretton made the decision with his doctor to shut down the set and self isolate in order to protect his newborn child. The director’s coronavirus test results came out negative, but was timed right as Disney (and many other Hollywood productions) decided to shut down a slew of its films, including The Little Mermaid and Home Alone remakes, Peter Pan & Wendy and Shrunk.
Since Shang-Chi’s pause, the release dates for Marvel’s entire Phase Four has been moved over, starting with Black Widow now coming out this November instead of back in May. The martial arts epic was moved from a February 2021 release to the start of summer. Out of all the delays, Shang-Chi certainly has the closest disadvantage to bounce back from. It faces four months of being on hiatus and just three months of time bought by the studio.
Shang-Chi may have a benefit since its source material has the titular character training with his father in a secluded fortress in China before going on assignments for him elsewhere. As the comic book origin story goes, Shang-Chi is a highly skilled “Master of Kung Fu” who must come to terms with the fact that his dad is a criminal mastermind he has been doing his bidding for.
Marvel films are typically the most massive scale you can get on film, though many sequences have been shot in big stages blanketed with blue and green screens. Shang-Chi follows James Cameron’s Avatar 2, which recently returned filming in New Zealand to gear up for its fall 2021 release.
Shang-Chi is one of the most mysterious of Marvel’s Phase Four slate since the film is one of two brand new storylines (February’s The Eternals) being interwoven into the established universe. Check out our full list of upcoming Marvel projects and stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more exciting updates on these projects.
