The fans are clearly in disagreement looking at the much more robust score they’ve awarded it on Rotten Tomatoes, but it still can’t be denied that in terms of the critical consensus, Eternals is the worst-reviewed installment in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and by quite some distance.
The previous low was set by Thor: The Dark World eight years ago with 66%, but Eternals is currently sitting on a disappointing 49%, meaning that more than half of all the critics who shared their reviews were actively against the film. That isn’t going to stop it from topping the box office with one of the pandemic’s highest-grossing opening weekends, though, but audiences have also bestowed the cosmic epic with another unwanted honor.
Eternals has landed a CinemaScore of B, and while that’s not too bad all things considered, it’s the weakest return for an MCU blockbuster yet. 2011’s Thor was the previous low point at a B+, but when you consider the scale ranges from A to F, it’s hardly a disaster of epic proportions.
Still, these aren’t the kind of records that the MCU is used to setting, and it’ll be very interesting to see how Eternals fares commercially over the coming weeks once the initial buzz of its hotly-anticipated debut begins to wear off.