Even when Marvel loses, it wins.
Despite some extremely tepid reviews, Eternals earned $27.5 million this weekend, placing it atop the domestic box office once again, Varietyreports. That number was just enough to stave off the $22 million amassed during the five-day theatrical release of the Paramount family film, Clifford the Big Red Dog.
Eternals saw a steep decline of 61 percent in its second weekend, falling in line with the other MCU releases from earlier this year. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings fell 52 percent, while Black Widow dipped 67 percent. The latter was infamously subjected to a day-and-date release, and resulted in Scarlett Johnansson ultimately reaching a settlement with Disney over an alleged breach of contract.
The Chloé Zhao-directed film also eclipsed the $100 million mark domestically, a significant accomplishment that only a handful of movies have achieved this year. Eternals reached this rarefied air despite the aforementioned less than favorable early reactions and an all-time low Rotten Tomatoes score for a Marvel movie. The widely-panned 2013 film Thor: The Dark World currently has a 66 percent rating, but Eternals has cemented its Rotten status with a 47 percent score, as of this writing.
Eternals hauled in another $48 million overseas, bumping its total to $162.6 million, and pushing its worldwide sum to $281.4 million.
In further proof that superhero movies simply don’t miss at the box office, Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage has now pulled in $202 million domestically, becoming just the second film to do so in the COVID-era. Shang-Chi is still the highest-earning film of 2021 with $224 million, but its reign could be in danger of being toppled.
Still, these explosive numbers will likely be eclipsed on December 17, when Spider-Man: No Way Home storms into theaters. Get ready, folks.
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