Box Office: Eternals has a mighty debut at number one

There was no question that Marve’s Eternals was going to win the weekend but it was a matter of how well the film would actually do. Eternals debuted strongly but there are several indications that Marvel may have its biggest clunker to date.

Eternals grossed $71 million over the weekend which is a good figure but it’s below the $75 million mark the film was tracking at and well below the $80-85 million that some exhibitors were hoping for ahead of the weekend. There are signs that Eternals is gearing up for a steep fall next weekend and that has to do with the lukewarm response from moviegoers. The film already had to deal with a 48% rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes and that’s something the film could’ve survived if the general public liked what they saw. Exit polling for Eternals is pretty weak for a Marvel film and its “B” CinemaScore is the lowest grade an MCU film has ever received. Even Thor: The Dark World was stronger with an “A-.” The good news for Eternals is that it has a few weeks of virtually no competition so it will be the film of choice for moviegoers but it’s not going to experience Shang-Chi word of mouth. The indication on the streets is that Eternals isn’t exactly a home run and I’m sure the folks at Marvel will be discussing what exactly went wrong this weekend. Internationally, Eternals opened at number one in several key markets with $90.7 million overseas. This brings its global total to $161.7 million.

In second place we find Dune with a gross of $7.6 million. That’s a drop of 51% from last weekend and that was to be expected with the arrival of Eternals. The good news is that the Dune sequel is already scheduled for a 2023 release so steep declines weekend to weekend isn’t really an issue at this point. Domestically, Dune has grossed $83.9 million to date and, after taking in $11.1 million overseas, the film has a global haul of $330.4 million.

Bond is still hanging in the top five with No Time To Die grossing $6.1 million over the weekend. That’s a decline of only 20% which is the best hold the film has seen since its release. Domestically, No Time To Die has taken in $143.1 million while its international gross has soared beyond $610 million.

In fourth place we have Venom: Let There Be Carnage which grossed $4.4 million. The Venom sequel saw a solid hold as it only declined 22% this weekend and now $200 million is a lock in a matter of days on the domestic front. The film has grossed $197 million to date in the States while the film took in another $11.2 million overseas to bring its worldwide gross to $424.6 million.

Rounding out the top five is Ron’s Gone Wrong which took in $3.6 million this weekend with a decline of only 4%. Not sure why the fall was so slim for this one but I’m 20th Century Studios is happy to see the animated effort back in the top five. To date, Ron’s Gone Wrong has grossed $17.5 million to date.

What are YOUR thoughts on this weekend’s box office results?