We’ve got some kick-ass car-chase videos from the long-delayed shooting of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings which is back on track and filming all week in Russian Hill.

Redditors were abuzz over the weekend that some sort of big-budget action film appeared to be shooting in Nob Hill. Some Russian Hill residents also posted a film shoot notice describing a “feature film titled Steamboat” with stunt shots being filmed there all week. The fan site ComicBook.com posited last week that this would actually be the shooting of a Marvel film called Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, (with Steamboat merely being a code name) and SFist has confirmed that this is indeed the Shang-Chi Marvel shoot described in that report. That means big-budget live action shoots have returned to San Francisco, after March’s shelter-in-place orders brought halts to the SF-set Venom 2 and Matrix 4 productions that were also being shot locally (though both might have completed location shooting by that point).

“We are very excited to welcome back filming at this scale,” San Francisco Film Commission executive director Susannah Greason Robbins told SFist via email on Monday, emphasizing that COVID-19 film permits rules are in place. “Our office has worked diligently with the production to ensure that they fall under our current filming guidelines, part of which is keeping the production working in groups of 12 or less.”

Enough of that safety stuff, how about more car-chase porn!

According to IMDB, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings stars the delightfully charismatic Awkwafina and Michelle Yeoh in yet-unnamed roles, with Simu Liu (Orphan Black) in the title role. Shang-Chi, if you’re not familiar, is a Marvel kung fu character created in the 1970s, and his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut was of course put on hold in March when the COVID-19 pandemic went worldwide. But production is now back on.

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#ShangChi car chase

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“We are very excited they’ve chosen to film here, as they are injecting a significant amount of money into our local economy through local hires, equipment rentals, hotel nights, catering costs, as well as location fees and donations,” Greason Robbins adds. “Not only does it help San Francisco in the short term, but this film will be seen around the world, highlighting our neighborhoods, drawing tourists back to our beautiful city.”

Regardless of your degree of fandom of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or as I call it, “the Disney-Industrial Complex”), it is an absolute joy and spirit-lifter to have these kinds of movie shoots back in San Francisco. This pumps money back into our beleaguered service economy, and delivers a richly justified kung fu kick to the face of malcontents like Joe Rogan, Elon Musk, and Ben Shapiro who are supposedly “leaving California.” There are certain forms of magic, creativity, and scenery that you just can’t find in lower-taxed places like Crappy Ass, Texas, and San Francisco is delighted and privileged to be the backdrop of creative pursuits like this.

And if you are a fan of the Disney-Industrial Complex, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is currently slated for a July 9, 2021 release.

Related: Tom Hardy and Woody Harrelson Spotted Shooting 'Venom 2' In SF [SFist]

Image: Marvel Comics