When you sign on for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you have certain expectations as to how your career is going to plain out over x number of years – and a lot of that equates to being a mainstay and having non-stop box office success (it’s why half of the highest-grossing actors all have direct links to the MCU). But this isn’t always the case, which is something that took Eternals’ Kumail Nanjiani by surprise.
While Eternals is still Kumail Nanjiani’s top earner at the box office, it remains one of the worst-performing movies in the MCU, essentially sealing the fate of the actor. As he recalled on the Working Out podcast (via Deadline), “It came out, it got really bad reviews, and it didn’t do that well. It shattered me too much. That’s when I was like, ‘Oh, I need to go to therapy to figure this out.’”
Going into Eternals, Kumail Nanjiani said he had a full outline of his career trajectory mapped out. “I was like, ‘This is going to be my job for the next ten years.’ I signed on for six movies. I signed on for a video game. I signed on for a theme park ride. They make you sign on for all this stuff. You’re like, ‘This is the next ten years of my life. Okay, so I’ll be doing Marvel movies every year, and in between, I’ll do my own little things. Whatever I want to do.’”
And while Eternals’ performance did squash his vision, Kumail Nanjiani says he’s still proud of the movie. He would soon enough go on to Universal and Illumination’s Migration and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, with movies by Bobby Farrelly, James L. Brooks, Andy Serkis, and more line up for the future.
Eternals no doubt had its flaws (we’re mostly talking about pacing issues and cramming too many new characters in, but there are more), but it’s too bad that it still haunts Kumail Nanjiani, who has said that he still suffers “trauma” from the reception and outcome.
Why do you think Eternals was received the way it was upon release?
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