Eternals weekend box office collection: Rotten Tomatoes score plunges to 48%, but film makes ₹23 cr

Marvel’s latest release, Eternals has raked in almost ₹23 crore at the Indian box office in three days. While it is among the highest openers in the country since Covid-19 pandemic began, it is still legions behind the business done by the likes of other Marvel movies such as Avengers: Endgame.

Film trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted fresh figures on Monday. “#Eternals STAYS STRONG, despite two major opponents [#Sooryavanshi, #Annaatthe]… The hugely popular #Marvel brand cements its status in #India with this one… Fri 7.35 cr, Sat 5.75 cr, Sun 6.05 cr. Total: ₹19.15 cr Nett BOC. #India biz. ALL versions. Gross BOC: ₹22.80 cr.”

Meanwhile, the film’s score on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes has plunged to 48%, unprecedented for any Marvel film. Audiences were also lukewarm on what Zhao cooked up, giving the film a so-so “B” CinemaScore.

Eternals is directed by Oscar-winner Chloe Zhao and stars actors such as Angelina Jolie, Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Salma Hayek, Kumail Nanjiani and others.

In the US, Eternals soared to the top of the weekend box office chart, buoyed by mania for all things Marvel. But its $71 million debut fell just short of projections, which had the superhero film debuting to $75 million. 

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

That’s a sign, perhaps, that the iffy reviews muted Eternals results or a signal that the underlying intellectual property, the story of a group of god-like extraterrestrials, didn’t 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.

The epic story, spanning thousands of years, features a group of immortal heroes forced out of the shadows to reunite against mankind’s oldest enemy, The Deviants. Eternals is the third Marvel movie to come out post the pandemic. It follows Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow and Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi.