Marvels' Eternals makes US$161.7m debut at global box office

Los Angeles

THE superhero movie Eternals soared to the top of last weekend's box office charts in North America, buoyed by mania for all things Marvel.

But its US$71 million debut fell just short of projections, which had the film debuting to US$75 million.

Overseas, it took in US$90.7 million, bringing its global haul to US$161.7 million.

The lower-than-expected takings in North America are a sign, perhaps, that the iffy reviews muted the results or a signal that the underlying intellectual property - the story of a group of god-like extraterrestrials - did not quite have the resonance of other comic-book adaptations.

Marvel has successfully introduced lesser-known heroes, such as the Guardians of the Galaxy, to movie fans and spawned successful franchises with them - but that series got a lift from critics and also debuted in a time before anyone had ever heard of Covid-19.

Eternals still managed to score the fourth-best opening weekend for any movie during the pandemic era, sliding in behind Marvel's own Black Widow (US$80.3 million) and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (US$75.3 million), as well as Venom: Let There Be Carnage (US$90 million), which was made by Sony but based on a Marvel comic creation.

It is an impressive number - and any other studio or feature would be thrilled to have a launch of that size - but for a Marvel venture, it is hard to not view it as falling short of sky-high expectations.

Eternals is directed by Chloe Zhao, fresh off the Oscar-winning Nomadland, but reviewers griped that the film is long on exposition and light on entertainment.

It has the ignominious distinction of being the only Marvel movie to draw a "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with only 49 per cent of reviews marked as positive. Audiences were also lukewarm on what Zhao cooked up, giving the film a "B" on CinemaScore.

Dune, Warner Bros and Legendary's adaption of Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel, came in second with US$7.6 million, pushing its domestic haul to US$83.9 million.

A sequel to the film was officially greenlit days after the first entry in the Dune-verse opened in theatres.

Denis Villeneuve directs a cast that includes Timothee Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Javier Bardem, Zendaya and Rebecca Ferguson.

MGM and United Artists Releasing's No Time to Die nabbed third place with US$6.2 million, which pushes the spy film's total to US$143.1 million.

The James Bond film, which marks Daniel Craig's final outing as Secret Agent 007, will be available to rent on digital platforms next week, just a month after it opened in cinemas.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage took fourth position on the charts, with US$4.5 million. The symbiote sequel has earned US$197 million across the US.

20th Century Studios' animated adventure Ron's Gone Wrong rounded out the top 5, earning US$3.6 million to take its domestic haul to a doleful US$17.6 million. REUTERS