Chloé Zhao’s Eternals has set an unfortunate MCU record.
As pointed out Entertainment Weekly, the upcoming superhero flick is now the worst-rated MCU project on Rotten Tomatoes. The film, which hits U.S. theaters next week, had a 63 percent Fresh rating as of Thursday afternoon, about three points lower than the previous MCU record-holder, 2013’s Thor: The Dark World. It’s also worth noting that the movie only had 100 reviews as of press time, meaning it could improve its average rating before opening weekend; however, judging by the early reactions, it’s unlikely to receive a significant boost.
Generally speaking, a 63 percent RT rating is far from disastrous, but there’s no question that it marks a blow to studio giants Marvel and Disney. Other low-rated MCU films include 2008’s The Incredible Hulk (67 percent), 2010’s Iron Man 2 (72 percent), and 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron (76 percent). As for the highest-rated films, 2018’s Black Panther takes the top spot with a 96 percent Fresh rating, followed by 2018’s Avengers: Endgame (94 percent), 2008’s Iron Man (94 percent), and 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok (93 percent).
Eternals features an A-list ensemble cast that includes Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek, Kit Harington, Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Brian Tyree Henry, and Lauren Ridloff. Oscar-winning director Zhao spoke about Eternals in a recent interview with Fandago, explaining how the film may redefine the MCU.
“I think a big part of it is that audiences will be discovering the origin of the MCU through the mythology of the Celestials,” she said. “I think by the end of the film, we will have a new understanding of planet Earth’s relationship with the cosmos, and also with her own inhabitants. But in that sense, it would have a huge effect on the future of the MCU … The film is set after the Avengers brought back half of the population in the universe and on the planet. So, the way we look at an event like that is always, for us, it is seen as this huge ecological implication [if] something like that happened to our planet. So, between that ecological implication, and the sudden mysterious return of the Deviants, it’s time for the Eternals to get back to work.”
Eternals will hit the big screen on Nov. 5. Disney and Marvel have yet to announce when the film will be available to stream on Disney+.
