Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Box Office Discussion: "Eternals" Sunshine


 Eternals joins a long line of Marvel movies with excellent openings.

So far in 2021, five movies have opened to $70 million or more.  Four of them--the top four, in fact--are Marvel movies.  Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and now Eternals reign above all other releases this year (the fifth is F9).  Despite decidedly mixed reviews and audience reaction, not to mention a runtime of over 2 1/2 hours, the latest MCU entry took in $71.3 million, nearly ten times the amount that #2 Dune earned, and earned roughly 65% of the entire weekend box office.  That mixed audience reaction suggests that the film's box office run will be far from eternal, but it should still finish well above $100 million.

As mentioned, Dune, after two weeks on top, slid down to second, making $7.8 million for a total of $84.1 million.  It should be over $100 million by the end of next weekend.

For whatever reason, despite the arrival of the first holiday blockbuster, the next four films had unusually small drops.  In #3, No Time To Die fell only 22%, to $6 million, bringing its domestic total to $143 million.  While Casino Royale's $167.4 million is probably out of reach, it should be above $150 million in the next week or two.

Also dropping only 22% is the aforementioned Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which swallowed up another $4.5 million for a total of $197 million.  By this weekend, it should be the second film of the year to top $200 million.

Weirdly dropping only 5% despite losing roughly a quarter of its theaters, animated flop Ron's Gone Wrong took in $3.6 million for a total of $17.6 million.  That drop may reflect that kids who normally would have seen this last weekend waited until this weekend because of Halloween, but still, that is a small sign of optimism for the animated comedy as it heads toward home video and streaming.

Earning almost exactly what it did last weekend is The French Dispatch, which probably has an additional 400 theaters to thank, but the film, which seemed to be underperforming last week, now appears to be doing decent business.  Wes Anderson's latest earned another $2.6 million for a total of $8.5 million.  In terms of Anderson's movie's grosses, it should pass The Darjeeling Limited, and has a decent shot of passing Rushmore by the end of the month.

With the titular holiday over and done with, Halloween Kills got killed, as it fell nearly 75% to $2.3 million.  The horror thriller has now grossed $89.7 million, and will need surprisingly strong November grosses to hit the century mark.

Opening in 8th, Spencer, the Princess Diana biopic starring Kristen Stewart as Di, had a so-so opening, taking in $2.1 million.  With awards season just getting underway, and Stewart seen as a strong possibility for a Best Actress nomination, if not an outright win, this one should remain relatively steady for the next few weeks or so.

Rounding out the Top 10 are last week's two horror flops.  Antlers took in $2 million and Last Night in Soho brought in $1.8 million, for near-identical ten-day totals of $7.6 million.

For the first time since the pandemic began, 13 movies managed to earn over a million last weekend, with My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission (which, despite plunging more than Halloween Kills did, still has a better 10-day total, at $9.8 million, than Antlers or Soho), The Addams Family 2, and new Bollywood movie Sooryavanshi all making it to 7 digits.

This weekend, Eternals will likely have a steep fall, but will likely top the box office again.  It's only competition is Clifford the Big Red Dog, a live action (minus the CGI big red dog) adaption of the hugely popular kids picture book series (which has already been adapted into a long-running PBS animated series) about a little girl whose new tiny puppy grows overnight into a very, very very big red dog.  This is out today to take advantage of schools being closed tomorrow for Veteran's Day, but both that and its day-and-date streaming on Paramount+ will likely help dilute the weekend gross.  Also out, and making a play for the lower half of the Top 10, is Belfast, Kenneth Branagh's acclaimed, autobiographic comedy-drama about a young boy growing up in the titular city just as The Troubles turn it into a war zone.  Will Eternals flame on in the top spot, or could Clifford upset?  We'll find out next week.

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