Eternals box office day 1 collection: Marvel movie mints ₹8.75 on opening day, beats Shang-Chi by more than double

Marvel’s latest release, Eternals registered a healthy opening of ₹8.5 crore on Friday. The superhero movie released to negative reviews but viewers appears to be filling the seats regardless. 

Film trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted the figures on Saturday afternoon. “Eternals embarks on a FLYING START… Despite facing two tough opponents [Sooryavanshi, Annaatthe], the Marvel movie packs a SOLID TOTAL on Day 1… Fri ₹7.35 cr Nett BOC [1400 screens]. India biz. ALL versions. Gross BOC: ₹8.75 cr. #Diwali,” he wrote. Marvel’s last release Shang Chi and the Legend of Ten Ring collected ₹3.25 crore on day one.

Eternals is directed by Chloe Zhao and stars Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Gemma Chan, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek and others.

The Hindustan Times review of the movie read: ‘Eternals, gets so much wrong, it becomes a task to keep up even after a short while. While it does often diverge from the Marvel formula, it’s rarely for the better — be it the forced, utterly awkward sex scene or the feeble attempts to impress the ever-growing desi audience.’

Also read: Eternals movie review: Hey, at least it’s not as bad as Black Widow!

Eternals is projected to take in ticket sales of $67 million to $92 million in its opening weekend in North America, according to Boxoffice Pro, which tracks the industry. Mixed critical reviews led the website to cut its original forecast by 12%. Disney is estimating sales of $75 million. That would put Eternals third or fourth among the year’s biggest debuts, and in line with 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, which was also released in November.

Akshay Kumar’s Sooryavanshi, meanwhile, collected an estimated ₹26 crore on day one. The film is directed by Rohit Shetty and also stars Katrina Kaif.

Sooryavanshi opened to more positive reviews. The Hindustan Times review read: ‘Finally releasing after 19 months, Sooryavanshi is nothing short of a celebration of mainstream Hindi cinema, bringing back whistles and cheers to a theatre after a long time. Sooryavanshi is fuelled by director Rohit Shetty’s trademark action and Akshay Kumar brings it in abundance.’