The Marvel Cinematic Universe has done a lot of things that have surprised us all but introducing an entire superhero team out of nowhere has to be at the top of the list. Eternals was released last weekend and gave fans the taste of what it is like when MCU makes a real movie. Let me rephrase that, MCU has taken a step out of its formulaic approach and created something unique. Eternals is not your run-of-the-mill movie, it is an exercise in character development and it seems that the fans appreciate this. However, we should mention that the Eternals opening weekend box office numbers are the lowest since Ant-Man.
Box office mojo reports that Eternals has grossed $161.7 million worldwide in its opening weekend. The movie was released in 4,090 theatres in the USA alone and made $71 million in the domestic market. Eternals also managed to rake in another $90.7 million from the international market. The total $161 million collections of the movie exceed expectations of the studio which set the upper limit of their forecasts at $150 million. It signifies that the MCU audience is ready for something fresh.
They seem to have embraced the non-linear approach to storytelling. If Eternals keeps this pace then the movie may end up making upwards of $500 million by the end of its run. We cannot be sure, things may become clearer in the second weekend. Moreover, it is prudent to mention here that the domestic numbers are the lowest since phase 2 of the MCU. The pandemic has hit the movie industry the same as all others but none more so than this movie.
Eternals Opening Weekend Box Office Numbers
For context, Ant-Man made $57 million in its domestic opening, Thor: The Dark World made $85 million in its domestic opening and the trend more or less continued with the Phase 2 movies. Things hyped up by the time of arrival of Avengers: Infinity War. MCU had been growing consistently, even Ant-Man and the Wasp made $75 million in its domestic opening as compared to Eternals’ $71 million even though it did not have the same star power as this movie.
So, even though the numbers of Eternals are good they are still not as big as they used to be. MCU has suffered majorly at the hands of the pandemic and lost a lot of potential money to social distancing. We loved the movie and expect that the Eternals opening weekend Box Office numbers would have been a little better without it but what can we do. The movie was still amazing because Zhao pulled off something impossible. She took ten characters and made them into distinct pieces of a cohesive whole while giving them proper development.
It was not an easy task but the only one who could have pulled it off was Zhao and she did it magnificently in the movie. This may be the reason for these great box office numbers even after the review bomb of the movie by the critics in the last week. It seems that the fans were not deterred by the negative reviews and these actually egged them on. We may have seen the advent of a new era in MCU filmmaking with Eternals. We just hope that Marvel Studios take learning from this performance.
The Consequences
So what can we expect in the coming weeks? We think that Eternals would make a lot of money and end up in the 400-$500 million range like Shang-Chi if it keeps up this pace. This is based on the fact that the movie has beaten both Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings and Black Widow with its opening numbers. The thing with Eternals is that it could stand strong in the second weekend.
It has been review bombed by the critics, but a lot of fans are in disagreement with them. So, the good word of mouth from the fans could turn things around in the second weekend. If the film drops less than 50% in the next weekend on the domestic front, then we could believe that it will have strong feet moving forward. We hope that this pace can be maintained the review bombing could harm the film as well. It has been doing good and should act as motivation for the MCU to keep on pushing the envelope.
If you have not seen Eternals then we strongly suggest that you do. It is a great movie and should not be missed. If you have seen it then tell us What do you think of this movie and the box office numbers? Do you agree with our analysis and our predictions? Or do you think we are just speculating too much and with bias? Let us know your honest opinion in the comments below.
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