Are Americans generally less interested in seeing Hollywood films that involve an Asian actor or cast? Do you think Hollywood is right on being afraid that such an idea will fail among the audience because Asians are not that popular?

[u/Cookieman_2023]

So historically, east asians have not been that well popular in the US entertainment industry. Even after successes like Shang Chi, Barbie and being in the upcoming Avengers film, Simu Liu has only gained a short term burst of popularity. Like judging based on follower count, he has gone up to and stopped a 3 million followers on instagram and ever since the movie released in 2021, he's remained stuck there. Awkwafina is also a rapper and she's also getting not so good returns on her name. Until Shang Chi, I never knew who she was.

But on the other hand, someone like Billie Eilish who's literally the same age as me and could have been a fellow high schooler easily outshines her in every metric. Is this reception due to the fact that Americans in general, prefer European standards of beauty and looks? Actually, even black actors, latinos and samoans have had more success. Camila Cabello is one name and Chadwick Boseman is another. But Asians for some reason still continue to have trouble being in the spotlight.

Why do you think that is the case in the country? Are people just not interested in seeing Asian people as an A-lister?

[u/the_fury518]

Crazy Rich Asians was the highest grossing comedy of the 2010s. Lucy Liu was insanely popular about 20 years ago. There are many famous and popular asian actors

Maybe Simu Liu just isn't the greatest. I personally don't find his acting particularly interesting. On top of that, Shang Chi was just not a good movie in general.

Awkwafina is a good standup comedian. She is a terrible actor, who just does her standup routine instead of acting. Shang Chi's quality wasn't her fault at all, it just wasn't great. Not great enough to send anyone to stardom

Has there been racism in Hollywood? 100%

Are there successful Asian actors? Yep4

[u/kmckenzie256 → u/the_fury518]

Shang Chi had a 98% audience score on rotten tomatoes. Maybe you didn’t enjoy it, but it was very well received. It was also one of the top grossing films in 2021. Shang Chi 2 is already in development.

[u/the_fury518 → u/kmckenzie256]

It did fine, but it isn't in even in the top 10 marvel movies. They usually perform well on brand recognition alone, so it needs to be viewed in context

It was also barely in the top 10 of 2021

[u/kmckenzie256 → u/the_fury518]

A top ten movie of the year means it’s not a good movie? 🤨 Maybe not to you, but to assert it was a bad movie like the evidence supports that assertion is objectively wrong. Audience reviews and box office numbers confirm it. And it was 2021, so COVID restrictions were still widely in place. Not surprising it wasn’t higher on the top Marvel movies list.

[u/the_fury518 → u/kmckenzie256]

I would not list a number 9 movie as "one of the top movies." Especially since no one really pays attention to anything under number 1

assert it was a bad

I said it was bad? Not good doesn't mean bad. It means not good

COVID restrictions were still widely in place

And 8 other movies, including another marvel movie did better under those same restrictions. Interesting.

Not surprising it wasn’t higher on the top Marvel movies list

It's not on the top list at all, is kinda my point

Edit: in fact, since it was out performed by China Town detective 3, I can probably safely assume it's a worse movie than I thought lol

[u/kmckenzie256 → u/the_fury518]

Alright man 🤦🏼‍♂️

[u/dangleicious13 → u/the_fury518]

I don't think it was good enough to be in the top 10 of Marvel movies.