Went to see Eternals yesterday, thought it was pretty good, or worth seeing at least. Pacing is an issue. And after seeing it, i stand by my conviction that, given the huge cast and epic feel, this should've been done as a 2-parter rather than squeezing so much into one film. Characters could've used more development and some of the subplots could've used more breathing room as well. Also when you're establishing a fantastical status quo via exposition early on, its hard to undergo as many changes to that status quo within one movie and have the audience stay invested in the story imo... although i don't think more knowledgeable fans and attentive viewers would have trouble keeping track of things. Also without getting into spoilers i will say it does differ from any of the comic runs i've read in significant ways, but it also does incorporate at least a few plot points and ideas from various runs as well.

We went to see Shang-Chi for the first time last weekend, and there were plenty of folks in the theater. I realize it's due to the pandemic, but, for the first time ever, Marvel is competing with itself. Movies are expensive and time consuming, and folks are left with a choice of whether to see the wildly popular Shang-Chi (which has done so well that it's still in theaters two months after its release) or the critically uncertain Eternals. I have no doubt many are even choosing to see Shang-Chi a second or third time instead of taking a risk on Eternals.

That's so much of the problem of gauging success in a post-pandemic world. Much as with Black Widow, to what extent do the sales reflect the quality of the film/fans' reactions to it, and to what extent do sales reflect this unique moment in cinema history in which even a flawless machine like Marvel Studios doesn't know how to judge this stuff?

From what i can tell word of mouth is OK, i guess? RT has audience at 80% (i think it was as 83% or so on Saturday), which doesn't seem too bad although most "good" movies are up in the 90s as far as i can tell. I've certainly been recommending it, but then i fall in the "comic fans" category. 

In any case, i don't think Disney cares much. Its done well by COVID-era standards (small sample size, admittedly) but they can still trot out COVID as a reason for why it didn't do as well as they hoped.  They can also claim that the film suffered financially because of some of the "controversial" material that could result in individuals boycotting in addition to entire countries refusing to show it.  

I don't know if you've seen it, but without spoiling anything the story pretty much has to continue.  I mean its possible that the finale scenes are just forgotten about and never spoken of again, but just seems very unlikely to me. So maybe a sequel, otherwise i think we see the characters again in another franchise.  And of course beyond "finishing the story", Disney will surely take the most well-received characters and find ways to incorporate them more often while the others quietly fade from the stage.

Holy Crud, I loved this movie, and I really didn't expect to. It was so refreshing to have a Marvel film with a dense, heavily considered plot. Sure, you could see most of the twists coming a mile away if you really thought about it, but you actually had to think about it, and that's something no other Marvel film has invited me to do yet. I suspect that's also a big part of why this film is getting such mixed reviews -- it's smart and dense, not crowd-pleasing, popcorn-munching fare.

That being said, the film did suffer from several major problems, so I'll lay out my own personal pros and cons, here:


PROS
1. Intelligent film in which there isn't a clear right or wrong, even by the close.
2. Some of the best acting I've yet seen in a Marvel film.
3. Definitely didn't feel like a 2.5 hour film, even with noisy audience members who kept pulling me out of the moment.
4. Even with a cast that large, the film managed to make me genuinely like each of them (though I felt Marvel's first deaf hero deserved a little more screen time)

CONS
1. This would have worked far better as a premium television series. Several of you have commented on the pacing. I felt like I was watching highlights from literally four seasons-worth of an ongoing series, with far too many scenes skipped in between. I could even clearly see what the main conflicts/themes for each season would be. as well as the finales. Way too much too fast. And yet I loved it anyway. I wonder if Marvel dumped some of their plans for The Inhumans into this project.
2. I have zero interest in where the film leaves off. If this had been a television series, and we'd just sped through four seasons, five would likely be the one that jumps the shark.
3.


I get that I'm hyped after just having watched it in theaters, but I didn't passionately jump into the Shang-Chi thread after seeing that one two weekends back, nor the Black Widow thread when I saw that one either. This was truly special. Maybe it doesn't jibe well with the MCU, and maybe it isn't a great match for the general MCU fanbase, but I thought it was extremely intelligent and well-executed, and I can't wait to see it again.

Yeah, i liked the point made about how even at at 61% drop, Eternals had the 2nd best hold (after Shang-Chi's 54% drop) among the top 5 earners (so far)*. They seem to think it will eventually hit $175 mil domestically. I'm glad because while it has some flaws it really doesn't deserve to flop or be the subject of derision for mcu haters.

Feels like drop rates in the 60-70% range are the current "new norm" for even the most popular films, whereas in the pre-covid times iirc you expect 50% or better for popular movies. Not a great sign for theaters but hopefully things will get better.

Also, i agree with all of the comments made by the Captain and Shaxper above, a lot of positives but should've been two movies and the Deviants especially were underdeveloped.


* granted, Black Widow's drop probably wasn't helped by the same-day release on D+.

Welp, it looks like it won't be a box office bomb like you prophesied. Marvel is what, 26-0 now? None of their films have gotten slapped down financially even in COVID-19 times to the point where Disney has to make a course correction. Eternals international earnings even exceeded expectations. And yeah, the RT score is low from the critics, yet the audience score is pretty high. That site with the critic takes is so nutty sometimes, I can't take it seriously when they rated Indiana Jones 4 with a 78% approval rating. Anyway, another victory formation for Kevin Feige and the MCU. 

Well, it did better than The Incredible Hulk ($266 M)... and since this is early days still, it might pass Captain America ($370M), although those numbers are not in 2021 dollars and the film has already been out for two weeks. 

I agree with Forbes that whatever else it might be (including a good film that deserved to be made, for all I know), Eternals can't be called a hit. With a production price tag of 200 million and probably another 100 million in promotion, it needs to make a ton of money just to break even. It just might, in the end, but I think Disney prefers the Venom numbers!

(John Carter was called a massive flop even though it made $280M. It was just too expensive. It's nuts that a movie could be called a flop when it makes a quarter of a billion dollars, but there we are).