The Big Week of September 6, 2021
It’s Big Week On Tumblr, for the week of September 6, 2021!
Shang-Chi
The much-anticipated Marvel film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings premiered on September 3rd, and it’s everything fans had hoped for and more. Seriously, it is so freakin’ good. Anticipation for Shang-Chi has been building for months—we saw our first spike in interest around Shang-Chi in April, when the first trailer was released. Total engagements for the Shang-Chi tag increased 7926.3% in April versus March. It’s just been ramping up since then as well, with a 450% increase in engagements in August versus July. And wow, there’s been an 334% increase in total engagements this week alone compared to the entire month of August.
We’ve seen similar huge spikes in total engagements for the stars of the film when we compare September’s data so far to the entire month of August—especially co-star Tony Leung, who’s had a 482% increase compared to August. The total engagements for Simu Liu and Awkwafina have been steadily increasing over the summer, with huge spikes in August compared to July, and those numbers keep growing.
Unsurprisingly, the film was the top clicked tag from Explore on the 3rd and was the #1 film on this week’s Fandometrics’ Movies list. Simu Liu skyrocketed up 16 spots to take his place as the #2 Celeb last week, while Tony Leung premiered on that list at #12. Now, look—I don’t want to drop any spoilers here, so I’ll just say—tread lightly in the tags if you haven’t seen the film yet, and don’t forget to filter your tags in your blog settings. If you’re still waiting to see it and want to build some excitement, be sure to check out the Answer Time we did with Simu Liu over at Marvel Studios dot Tumblr dot com.
Venice Film Festival
The 2021 Venice Film Festival is in full swing, and cinemaphiles on Tumblr are rejoicing. The festival as well as several actors appearing at it have been trending steadily all week, including Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, and Oscar Isaac, who all appeared on this week’s Celebs list.
It’s hard to say whether folks on Tumblr were more excited to hear the initial buzz about Dune or to see Oscar Isaac uh, interacting with Jessica Chastain’s arm on the red carpet — trust me, there are a lot of GIFs of that.
[ oscar isaac was written by a woman for the female gaze ]
There’s also been an outpouring of interest around Tumblr’s beloved Benedict Cumberbatch and his upcoming film, The Power of the Dog, which is getting rave reviews. The Fashion side of Tumblr is also having a blast lauding – or panning – all the red carpet looks. With a few more days left, we’re sure to see even more coming out of the festival.
The Wheel of Time
Amazon Prime finally dropped a trailer on September 2nd for their upcoming streaming adaptation of the beloved epic fantasy novel series, The Wheel of Time.
Full disclosure—I’ve been in the Wheel of Time fandom since 1994, so suffice to say I was personally VERY hype for this trailer. And honestly? It blew me—and the rest of the fandom—out of the water.Fans of the 14-novel series (15, if you count the prequel New Spring) have been anxiously awaiting seeing their favs on the small screen, and general sentiment about the trailer is overwhelmingly positive.
[ Please forgive me when Wheel of Time comes out, I will be going FERAL ]
It delivered on Aes Sedai’s magical channeling, epic shots of Tar Valon, terrifying Fades and Trollocs, and general adventure for the Two Rivers gang. Fans immediately took to Tumblr to post incredible GIFsets of all of the characters, including Rosamund Pike as Moiraine Sedai, and we saw tons of posts pointing out all of the details and foreshadowing the trailer included—and trust me, there’s a lot of foreshadowing.
The Wheel of Time was the 9th most clicked tag from Explore on the 2nd, when we saw a massive 3555% increase in total engagements on the tag, and trending the following day as well. Fans, myself included, can’t wait to see more!
Michael K. Williams & Jean-Paul Belmondo
In sad news, two acting icons passed away on September 6th. Tumblr’s mourning the loss of Michael K. Williams and French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo. Williams was best known for his roles in The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, and most recently Lovecraft Country, while Belmondo was an icon of French New Wave cinema.
Fans across the globe came to Tumblr to mourn their losses, sharing stories of how both actors affected their lives. Queer folks on Tumblr especially called out Williams’ nuanced portrayals of several of the gay characters he played. Both Williams and Belmondo trended on the 6th and 7th.
Sex Education
The trailer for Sex Education Season 3 finally dropped on Wednesday, and it looks like there are some big changes coming to Moordale. A new headmaster, new rules, new uniforms, and of course lots of new romantic developments for these trysting British teens.
Fans in the tag are speculating endlessly about the status of their favorite relationships in the upcoming season, such as the will-they-or-won’t-they Maeve & Otis, and former headmaster’s son Adam and his boyfriend Eric.
[ my adoration for eric and adam came back full force with that trailer ]
Sex Education was the top-clicked tag on September 7, and there’s sure to be gifs and posts aplenty when the entire season is released for binge-watching on Netflix on the 17th.
That’s it for Big Week On Tumblr! Seasons change, time passes, but some things stay the same: the Oscar Isaac tag on Tumblr is full of thirst. Tune in next week for Big Week’s first-ever Meme Deep Dive segment.