Eternals is off to a big start overseas as the box office results roll in for the top two days overseas. Deadline reports that the latest Marvel feature is up to $20 million already. Even more impressive is the fact that it’s currently outpacing Shang-Chi and Black Widow. A lot of this has to do with more theaters being open as the year progresses. But, the numbers are the numbers, the old adage goes, “The best ability is availability.” Chloe Zhao’s movie may not have had the smashing Rotten Tomatoes numbers that some people would have thought. But, that clearly does not matter for most audiences. The viewer score is almost 40 points higher than the critic score at the time of writing. Clearly, Eternals is doing something right in these theaters. Marvel has to be ecstatic about early performance and hoping that things build in the meantime.
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Zhao actually talked to JoBlo about making a standalone film in a universe where sequels are not only encouraged but expected. She said that there was full support to tell the story on hand.
“I was encouraged to make a good standalone film, very encouraged to do that. I think now the film belongs to you, not me, and we want to see how this child grows in this scary, wild, and beautiful world,” Zhao explained. “And then we need to watch and listen and learn and then see where we go from there. But I think, maybe I’m wrong about this, but I feel like filmmakers, it doesn’t matter what genre, they tend to make the same movie over and over and over (laughs).”
In another conversation with THR, the director also talked about how important shooting this film practically was to her. Those kinds of visuals can be hard to come by in these massive blockbuster movies.
“When I pitched the film, we spent half the time talking about what and the other half talking about how. That’s very important to me. Sometimes, we get excited about the what but we don’t talk about how,” Zhao said of her process. “We knew that this film had to be immersive, and we knew that there had to be a level of realism to everything, from action to the Eternals in historic periods. So we, as the audience, have to actually believe that these immortal aliens have walked the planet for several thousand years. I want the audience to discover these characters and their relationship with this planet.”
Eternals is in theaters now.
Have you seen Eternals yet? What did you think? Let us know down in the comments!
