Marvel’s Eternals Tops North American Box Office

The Marvel superhero film Eternals has topped the North American box office after making $71million in opening sales over the weekend. 

The superhero film written and directed by Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao has received some of the worst reviews of any Marvel film. Despite being the first Marvel movie to receive a “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has fared well overseas, making an impressive $91million. 

Industry watcher Exhibitor Relations on Sunday noted that this was a strong pandemic-era opening despite being below expectations. 

Eternals stars actors Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden and Gemma Chan as its leads. The film tells the tale of an immortal race of aliens who emerge from several millennia in hiding to save the Earth from the evil Deviants.

With Eternals taking first place on the North American box office for the Friday-through-Sunday period, former lead movie Dune dropped to a distant second place, at $7.6 million.

The Warner Bros. sci-fi thriller, based on the classic Frank Herbert opus, stars Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya and Oscar Isaac. It follows a family fighting for survival on a desert planet plagued by monstrous sandworms in the distant future.

Coming in third place at $6.2million is United Artist’s James Bond film “No Time to Die”, which the studio says would be Daniel Craig’s last time playing the suave spy. 

In fourth place is the Sony superhero film “Venom: Let There Be Carnage.” This weekend, the Venom movie moved up a place to the fourth spot, taking in $4.5 million. Its domestic total is now close to $200 million.

In fifth place is 20th Century’s computer-animated sci-fi comedy “Ron’s Gone Wrong,” at $3.6 million. Its voice cast includes Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms and Olivia Colman.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

“The French Dispatch” ($2.6 million)

“Halloween Kills” ($2.4 million)

“Spencer” ($2.1 million)

“Antlers” ($2 million)

“Last Night in Soho” ($1.8 million)