Despite suffering from the worst reviews in Marvel Cinematic Universe history, not to mention the franchise’s lowest ever CinemaScore, Eternals handily enjoyed one of the pandemic’s best opening weekends by debuting to $71 million domestically and $162 million globally.
As is the case with any of Kevin Feige’s comic book blockbusters, the team bandied together during the third act to defeat a common enemy and save the world, but Chloe Zhao’s cosmic epic is facing a surprisingly formidable foe in theaters this weekend, with Paramount’s Clifford the Big Red Dog playing much better than expected.
By current estimates, Eternals is still on track to comfortably repeat at the top of the charts with a decent $27 million second frame, but Clifford is performing much higher than initial projections after debuting on the big screen and streaming on Wednesday, where it’s poised to chow down on over $20 million across the five days.
By the end of tomorrow, Eternals should be within touching distance of $250 million worldwide if it doesn’t easily blow past that number, which is no doubt helped by the massive discrepancies in the critical and audience consensus on Rotten Tomatoes, with fans deeming the sweeping saga as worthy of repeat viewings.