‘Eternals’ tops box office over ‘Clifford the Big Red Dog’

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LOS ANGELES – Marvel’s epic comic “Eternals” is once again dominating the national box office charts.

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In its second opening weekend, the superhero adventure has grossed $ 27.5 million in 4,090 North American theaters. As of Sunday, “Eternals” topped the $ 100 million mark in the United States and Canada, with box office revenues of $ 118 million. Although it wouldn’t be a particularly notable benchmark in pre-COVID times, only a handful of movies have surpassed $ 100 million in 2021.

“Eternals” is down 61% from its $ 71 million debut, a drop that ranks somewhere between Marvel’s other pandemic releases, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” (which was down 52% in its presentation sophomore) and “Black Widow” (which was down 67% in its sophomore run). “Shang-Chi”, like “Eternals”, is screened only in theaters, while “Black Widow” was released in Disney Plus (for $ 30 in addition to monthly subscription fees) the same day it was released in theaters.

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Compared to recent entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Eternals” hasn’t received the best reviews. It is the only installment to receive a “rotten” rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, and it is one of the few to earn a CinemaScore rating below “A” from the public. Those factors didn’t affect Sony’s comic book sequel “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” which has a similar audience rating and critical sentiment. However, moviegoers have come to develop much higher expectations (and standards) for Disney’s MCU, a franchise that is critically and commercially in a league of its own.

Speaking of “Venom,” the second feature film focusing on Tom Hardy’s alien symbiote became the second COVID-era release to surpass $ 200 million at the domestic box office. After nearly two months in theaters, the film ranked No. 5 with $ 3.7 million out of 2,538 locations, driving revenue to $ 202 million. “Shang-Chi,” which is the highest-grossing film of 2021 at $ 224 million to date, is the only other film to exceed $ 200 million this year.

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Second on the national box office charts, Paramount’s family adventure “Clifford the Big Red Dog” grossed $ 16.4 million from 3,700 locations between Friday and Sunday. The film, which is simultaneously available on the Paramount Plus streaming service, took a leap over the weekend by opening in theaters on Wednesday and grossed $ 22 million in its first five days of release.

“Clifford” got off to a decent start considering its hybrid release, although analysts believe it would have made even more money by having an exclusive cinema window before moving to digital platforms. However, family crowds have been slow to return to theaters because young children have only recently been able to get vaccinated against COVID-19, so Paramount wanted to boost ticket sales while boosting its fledgling streaming service in the process.

“The streaming option is not helping these movies,” says David A. Gross, who runs the film consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “Without it, its value would be higher on each and every platform.” Still, he says, “this is a very solid opening in the face of difficult family movie theater conditions.”

“Dune,” the sci-fi show from Warner Bros. and Legendary, ranked third with $ 5.5 million across 3,282 screens. To date, the movie has grossed $ 93 million while simultaneously streaming on HBO Max.