Marvel’s Eternals tops domestic box office for 2nd weekend, earns Rs 27.45 crore in India

Disney and Marvel’s Eternals took a steep drop in its second weekend in theaters, but it’s still hanging on to first place ahead of newcomers like Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Eternals added $27.5 million over the weekend in North America, bringing its domestic total to $118.8 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The film, directed by Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao and starring Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani and Gemma Chan, fell 61% from its debut. Though not uncommon for a big superhero tentpole, it was significantly steeper than the 52% drop seen by the last Disney and Marvel offering, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Both played exclusively in theaters, but the main difference is that Shang-Chi simply got better ratings from audiences and critics. Shang-Chi also became available to stream on Disney+ this weekend. Eternals has made $281.4 million globally to date.

Eternals is about the titular quasi-immortal beings, who have lived secretly among humans since 5000 BC. They were told by their Celestial overlord called Arishem that they were earth’s protectors, and were tasked to destroy the Deviants, their destructive counterparts. Over time, they seemingly killed every Deviant, but received no further communication from the Celestials.

In India, Eternals has accumulated Rs 27.45 crore as per BollywoodHungama.com

Though critics were not impressed with Eternals (it has a 48% on Rotten Tomatoes), audiences were more forgiving, giving it a promising A CinemaScore. And Clifford managed to do this in the face of uncertain moviegoing conditions for families.

“There’s been a lot of talk about family audiences and whether or not they want to go to the movie theater,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s senior media analyst. “I think this is a really solid debut. It shows there is a demand for family films on the small screen and the big screen.”

Blockbusters rounded out the top five with Dune in third place with $5.5 million, No Time to Die in fourth with $4.6 million and Venom: Let There Be Carnage in fifth with $4 million. Notably, Venom 2 this weekend became only the second pandemic-era film to cross the $200 million mark at the domestic box office. The other was Shang-Chi.

More and more awards hopefuls are entering the specialty box office as well, and many are making their way into the top 10. This weekend Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical film Belfast made $1.8 million from 580 screens in its debut. In its second weekend, Spencer, featuring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana, pulled in $1.5 million from 1,265 screens. And even in its fourth weekend, Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch continues to do well, adding $1.8 million and bringing its total to $11.6 million.