#The Eternals Fought Clifford The Big Red Dog And Won (At The Box Office)

“Eternals,” directed by Chloé Zhao, has now reached a domestic gross of $118 million after 10 days. “Black Widow” had hit $131 million by the 10-day mark, while “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” was at $144 million. However, even if the reviews hadn’t been as mixed as they are, “Eternals” was always likely to be the lowest-grossing MCU movie of the year. “Black Widow” stars an O.G. Avenger, and “Shang-Chi” is a relatively straightforward superhero origin story focused on just one character, whereas “Eternals” introduces a whole family of relatively obscure Marvel characters amid a story that spans millennia. And even if it ends up being the lowest-grossing MCU movie of the year (which is likely, given the hype surrounding “Spider-Man: No Way Home”), “Eternals” will likely still be another comfortable hit for Disney.

This weekend’s box office also continues to bolster confidence in theatrical releases, and suggests that Paramount Pictures (the studio behind “Clifford the Big Red Dog”) may have been too hasty in postponing the releases of “Top Gun: Maverick” (which was set to release next week) and “Jackass Forever” (which was supposed to have released in October) to 2022. That being said, the target audience for those movies is slightly older than that for “Eternals” and “Clifford,” and younger audiences have been leading the charge back into theaters while older people have (understandably) been more reticent. 

“Eternals” and “Clifford the Big Red Dog” are in theaters now.