Eternals' "rotten" status isn't tainting its box office hopes

The Asian country, where 75 percent of the population is vaccinated, is getting ready to ease up some of its quarantine restrictions, including plans to lift staggered seating in theaters. Meanwhile, the addition of Korean star Don Lee to the film’s roster—in addition to general strong MCU performance in the country—has already brought in $2.6 million before the weekend proper even starts, making it one of the country’s biggest debuts this year. Eternals is going to need that kind of wide international support, too, since the film, like all of Marvel’s 2021 output, apparently won’t be playing in the massive Chinese film market.

Marvel has a lot riding on the success of Eternals, a movie which—even more than the other MCU films that have come out in the wake of 2019's Avengers: Endgame—seeks to argue that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is an endlessly renewable resource for Marvel Studios and its parent company, Disney.

There has, then, presumably been at least a little worry in very nice offices somewhere about the film’s critical reception, which has seen its sprawling story of immortal aliens receive one of the coolest responses one of the studio’s offerings has gotten to date, earning the unwanted “rotten” label from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

In addition to its international performance, Eternals is expected to bring in roughly $75 million at the U.S. box office this weekend, making it Marvel’s second-biggest opener of 2021, after Black Widow.