The box office has bounced back in a big way over the past few months, and Deadline is now reporting that Eternals looks set to open to an estimated $75 million in North America this weekend. That's a solid number, especially when the movie currently sits at a "Rotten" 53% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Presale tickets are the second-best of 2021 with $13 million, so negative reviews certainly don't seem to have hurt the movie. It's 13% behind Black Widow at this same point in time and 25% ahead of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. This bodes well for Eternals, but if moviegoers don't embrace Chloé Zhao's vision for the MCU, word of mouth might mean it won't have legs.
In terms of competition, Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a couple of weeks away, but it's an otherwise relatively unexciting month for movies (Disney Animation's Encanto looks pretty good, though).
Overseas, it's looking like Eternals will open with $60 million - $75 million, so a $150 million global debut is likely. That's behind Shang-Chi and roughly on par with Black Widow's theatrical/Disney+ debut. Considering these characters are total unknowns to even hardcore comic book fans, that A-List cast is likely to be key in bringing eyes to Eternals when it opens on Friday.
Check out our interview with Eternals star Barry Keoghan (Druig) below:
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