411 Box Office Report: Eternals Scores With $71 Million Opening

Marvel opened yet another blockbuster at the top spot in the box office this weekend, as Eternals rung up a $71 million opening weekend. The MCU film dominated the weekend, scoring right within the $70 million to $75 million that was expected of it heading into the weekend. It’s a solid performance, even as it ranks slightly under the $75.4 start of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings as well as Black Widow’s $80.4 million opening.

There will be a lot of “what went wrong?” ink spilled over this result, but the truth is that Eternals was always going to be a harder sell than those films. While Shang-Chi also featured a more obscure character, solo films are easier to sell audiences on than ensemble movies, and Eternals has a main cast of 10 characters new to the MCU. And Eternals is also a more esoteric film than the punchy antics of Shang-Chi or Black Widow.

You can add in a couple more factors here, too. For one, Eternals clocks in at a weighty two hours and 36 minutes, and longer films both have less screenings with which to reap profits and scare people off. For another, this is simply a less-liked film overall. The Rotten Tomatoes aggregate score is 48%, while the audience rating is a “mere” B; a bit on the downside for a standard film but quite low by MCU standards.

Did that audience rating hurt the weekend overall? It doesn’t appear to have, as the film held up okay from Friday to Sunday. It might well factor into week-to-week holds, though this won’t suffer the heavy drops of Black Widow as it’s exclusive to theaters for 45 days. Either way, Disney isn’t crying too much over this film, which is delivering on the whole. It added $91 million overseas for a $161.7 million worldwide start, above the $139.7 million start for Shang-Chi and the $158.8 million start of Black Widow. Though this does with the caveat that it opened in more markets, it is still a decent result for the film.

It’s difficult to say for sure how far Eternals will fly, but $200 million domestically is not out of the realm of possibility. And Disney will be happy all in all; this film was expensive with a $200 million budget, but much like other films the worldwide grosses will bring this into the black.

Dune slipped from the #1 spot to make way for Eternals, grossing $7.6 million this weekend. That’s down a solid 51% and brings the Denis Villeneuve-directed film’s totals to $83.9 million domestically and a very good $330.4 million worldwide thus far. Warner Bros. is pleased with these results, and of course have already greenlight Part 2. The movie is looking on course to gross as much as $100 million domestically and will ultimately be profitable even with a $165 million budget plus marketing.

No Time to Die spent its third straight weekend at #3 again, grossing $6.2 million (down a great 20%) in its fifth weekend. The 007 film is now at $143.2 million domestically and a great $667.5 million worldwide, putting it well on track to big profit even with a $250 million production budget and marketing costs. Domestically it is targeting around $155 million total.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage was also down a tiny amount, just 22% in its sixth weekend, to bring in $4.5 million. The Sony/Marvel film is up to $197 million domestically and a stellar $424.6 million worldwide, making it quite the hit considering the $100 million budget. The sequel is likely to close out its domestic run at around $210 million to $215 million in the US.

Ron’s Gone Wrong had a great hold this weekend, down just 4% to take in $3.6 million. This was something the 20th Century Studios animated film desperately needed considering how poorly it has performed to date. It now has $17.6 million domestically and $46.5 million worldwide and is now looking to end its stateside run at around $24 million. No word on its budget, but it looks to be more a matter of minimizing losses than finding profit.

Arthouse cinema is seeing a much-needed win in Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, which expanded its theater count again and saw it hold almost dead even at $2.6 million. This is a format that has been floundering in the pandemic era and needed a must-see director like Anderson to get some signs of life.

Audiences are responding well to French Dispatch, which has now grossed $8.5 million domestically and $15.8 million worldwide against a reported $25 million budget. No, it won’t hit profit in its current theatrical run (it looks likely to end its run around $15 million domestically) but these films are generally built to gain awards momentum, capitalize there and then make bank on home video/streaming deals.

With spooky season gone, Halloween Kills bottomed out and lost 73% in its fourth weekend to $2.4 million. The slasher sequel now has $89.7 million domestically and $119.2 million worldwide, both numbers that Universal is happy with. It seems to be hoping for a final domestic total of $100 million from a $20 million budget.

Speaking of arthouse cinema, it picked up another solid start in Spenser. The Pablo Larrain-directed Princess Diana film starring Kristen Stewart nailed down $2.1 million – nothing to ring the bells about, but a solid start for a film very much targeted at an older crowd. Spenser has brought in fantastic reviews with an 85% RT score and raves in particular for Stewart’s performance. No word on audience scores (CinemaScore doesn’t tend to survey for limited releases), but this film should be able to pick up momentum when awards season comes. The budget is not exactly known, though it was confirmed to be less than $20 million.

Last week’s horror new releases made up the final two spots, with Antlers taking #9 thanks to a $2 million weekend. That’s down 53%, solid for the horror genre, and brings the film to $7.6 million domestically and $12.6 million worldwide. Meanwhile, Last Night in Soho brought in $1.8 million (down 57%) for a two-weekend total of $7.6 million domestically and $12.8 million worldwide. Soho was the more expensive film, but both are likely to find their audiences on home video/streaming.

Next weekend will see Eternals continue to reign supreme, as the only new openings are Paramount’s Clifford The Big Red Dog and Focus Features’ Oscar contender Belfast. Clifford opens on Wednesday and will be a day-and-date release with Paramount+, with a low teens opening likely. Belfast will likely be in the mid to high single digits.

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. Eternals – $71 million ($71 million total)
2. Dune – $7.6 million ($83.9 million total)
3. No Time to Die – $6.2 million ($143.2 million total)
4. Venom: Let There Be Carnage – $4.5 million ($197 million total)
5. Ron’s Gone Wrong – $3.6 million ($17.6 million total)
6. The French Dispatch – $2.6 million ($8.5 million total)
7. Halloween Kills – $2.4 million ($89.7 million total)
8. Spenser – $2.1 million ($2.1 million total)
9. Antlers – $2 million ($7.6 million total)
10. Last Night in Soho – $1.8 million ($7.6 million total)