LOS ANGELES, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Disney and Marvel Studios' superhero film "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" easily repeated as the winner of the North American box office with an estimated 35.78 million U.S. dollars in its second weekend, according to studio figures collected by measurement firm Comscore.

It's the biggest second weekend for any film released in North America during the COVID-19 pandemic. The theater-only release has grossed 145.6 million dollars to date in North America for a global cume of 257.6 million dollars.

"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" "continues its fantastic theatrical first run," senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian at Comscore wrote to Xinhua in an email.

"The film enjoyed a very modest drop of just 53 percent in the wake of its massive record-breaking Labor Day weekend success thus showing the power of a theatrical first run to drive moviegoers to the multiplex," he added.

"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" is the 25th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Marvel's first film with an Asian lead and cast.

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, the film stars Chinese-Canadian actor Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, who must confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization. The film also stars Tony Leung as Wenwu, Awkwafina as Shang-Chi's friend Katy and Michelle Yeoh as Jiang Nan, as well as Fala Chen, Meng'er Zhang, Florian Munteanu and Ronny Chieng.

In a distant second place on box office charts, Disney and 20th Century Studios' sci-fi action comedy film "Free Guy" brought in 5.81 million dollars in its fifth weekend for a North American total of 101.8 million dollars.

The film has a cume-to-date of 276.5 million dollars worldwide through Sunday, including 493 million yuan (around 76.5 million dollars) from China.

Directed by Shawn Levy, the film stars Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar and Taika Waititi. The film follows a bank teller who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game, and decides to become the hero of his own story. Now in a world where there are no limits, he is determined to be the guy who saves his world his way before it is too late.

Warner Bros. Pictures' horror film "Malignant" opened in third place with 5.57 million dollars this weekend.

"Malignant" is the latest creation from "Conjuring" director James Wan, an Australian filmmaker of Malaysian Chinese descent. The film stars Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, George Young, Michole Briana White and Jacqueline McKenzie among others.

The film follows a woman who is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, and her torment worsens as she discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities. Enditem

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