Former Marvel star claims studios think Asian actors are ‘risky’ despite financial successes
Marvel Studios has epitomized the problems facing modern Hollywood.
For years, Marvel was laser focused on its mission. It made fun, entertaining movies that had mass appeal. Popcorn movies that delivered a coherent, overarching storyline, with humor, recognizable characters, and competent execution.
Culminating in “Avengers: Endgame,” the Marvel Cinematic Universe seemed unstoppable. Fast-forward a few years, and Marvel has churned out a series of flops.
Here’s a list of recent Marvel releases and their box office results:
|
Year |
Film |
Worldwide Gross |
|
2019 |
Captain Marvel |
$1,131,416,446 |
|
2019 |
Avengers: Endgame |
$2,799,439,100 |
|
2019 |
Spider-Man: Far From Home* |
$1,132,723,226 |
|
2021 |
Black Widow |
$379,751,655 |
|
2021 |
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings |
$432,243,292 |
|
2021 |
Eternals |
$402,064,899 |
|
2021 |
Spider-Man: No Way Home* |
$1,921,426,073 |
|
2022 |
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness |
$955,775,804 |
|
2022 |
Thor: Love and Thunder |
$760,928,081 |
|
2022 |
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever |
$859,208,836 |
|
2023 |
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania |
$476,071,180 |
|
2023 |
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 |
$845,555,777 |
|
2023 |
The Marvels |
$206,136,825 |
|
2024 |
Deadpool & Wolverine |
$1,338,073,645 |
|
2025 |
Captain America: Brave New World |
$415,101,577 |
|
2025 |
Thunderbolts |
$382,436,917 |
|
2025 |
The Fantastic Four: First Steps |
$521,858,728 |
Here’s how this looks, charted:
If you noticed a distinct downward trend, you’re not alone. A large part of the reason for this decline is that Marvel Studios and its parent company, Disney, changed its focus. Instead of the best possible characters and storylines, the focus instead was on…representation. Choosing to fit demographic checkboxes first, and telling quality stories second.
It hasn’t worked. And now, Simu Liu, one of the stars of those failed projects is demanding more of what doesn’t work.
Canadian actor, stuntman, writer, and advocate Simu Liu. (Photo by Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Sipa USA)
Simu Liu Shows Why Hollywood Keeps Struggling
On Threads of all places, Liu posted this week about a supposed lack of “representation” for Asian actors in the entertainment industry.
“Put some Asians in literally anything right now,” he said. “The amount of backslide in our representation onscreen is f***ing appalling. Studios think we are risky.”
He kept going, naming a number of movies starring Asian leads, while claiming they were all financial success stories: “Minari,” “Farewell,” “Past Lives,” “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” which he starred in.
“Every single one a financial success. No Asian actor has ever lost a studio even close to 100 million dollars but a white dude will lose 200 million TWICE and roll right into the next tentpole lead. We’re fighting a deeply prejudiced system. And most days it SUCKS.”
My goodness, what a ridiculous, inaccurate thing to say. Hollywood is prejudiced? Hollywood, the furthest left industry in America? That’s alienated millions of right-leaning consumers with its obvious political bias?
It’s all “white dudes” fault? There’s nothing that Liu loves more than playing the victim. “White dudes” that act have nothing to do with whether film executives greenlight movies or not. And calling his “Shang-Chi” a box office success is wildly inaccurate. Estimates suggested a production budget of roughly $150 million, with likely a similar number spent on marketing. With the studio getting just half of box office receipts, which told around $432 million, it’s a near-certainty the film lost money during its theatrical run.
Some of that might have been recouped through streaming, but it was hardly some box office hit.
The ultimate issue with this line of thinking is that it’s reductive. The most important factor with movies is quality. Quality writing, quality storytelling, acting, and directing. Many of these success stories, like “Crazy Rich Asians,” were hits because they had all those elements. That’s what matters.
Hollywood, for years, has put “representation” first, representation for its own sake. Not quality. And they’ve lost a fortune. But Liu isn’t demanding quality, he’s demanding casting. As we’ve seen, that doesn’t work. And it never will.