What I Heard This Week: ‘SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS’

Every now and then I come across some information the veracity of which can be confirmed by a second source. What happens FAR more often is that I come across some information that while believable and from trustworthy sources, cannot be confirmed by other sources for various reasons. Typically, when the second scenario occurs, I move on and forget about the information unless, in rare instances, it turns out to be proven true somewhere down the road.

With two different Disney Plus series under production at the same time, and films at various states of pre-production, rumors are running rampant and while it’s a ton of fun to sort through them all, not all of them make a ton of sense; however, I recently came across one that, while unverified, makes a lot of sense. It’s important to understand that, because I can’t verify this with a second source, I myself am treating it as a rumor which means, for the time being, I don’t believe it myself. It’s also important to understand that the information provided would be spoilery if did turn out to be true. So please read at your own risk and please make an effort to represent what you’ve read here as nothing more than a rumor. This isn’t a “hot scoop”, at least not yet. For now, they it is nothing more than a compelling rumor that should generate plenty of great discussion among the MCU fan community. With that having been said, read ahead if you chose…

Things I heard this week: Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings may be filming in Malta.

This past summer I learned that Shang-Chi and The Legends of The Ten Rings would film on location in Vietnam and Hong Kong, among other spots.

While 'SHANG-CHI' will be in studio in Australia, you can expect quite a bit of location work. I'm told locations in and around Hong Kong and Vietnam will be seen in the film. pic.twitter.com/WM39CV09Ps — Charles Murphy (@_CharlesMurphy) August 16, 2019

That information was later confirmed, but as the protest in Hong Kong have continued and civil unrest has continued to grow, Marvel Studios has had to look elsewhere to film some scenes and it’s possible that they have settled on the island Republic of Malta.

Rich in history and beautiful architecture, Malta’s location in the Mediterranean has often turned it into a central strategic location in various wars throughout time and, thus, has seen it shaped by many different cultural influences. The small archipelago has seen the percentage of those of Chinese heritage grow over the past 20ish years and the cultural influence can be seen all around the islands, including at the Chinese Garden of Serenity in Santa Lucija.

Malta also boasts some incredible open air fish markets that resemble those seen in Hong Kong and could be accessed a little more readily than those in Hong Kong.

This is a tough one because we all know that not everything that is filmed makes it into the final cut, so while these locations may have been chosen and even filmed, they may never be seen by audiences which means I might have absolutely no proof that this rumor was correct. However, given that it’s just a rumor and it gave me a chance to search Google for some information about a beautiful island nation, I’m ok with that. Feels like I just did a 5th grade social studies project.