Salma Hayek and The Eternals top the box office in US theaters

“Eternals,” one of Marvel’s most ambitious efforts to expand the superhero universe, hit cinemas with about $71 million in box office revenue over the weekend in theaters in the United States and Canada, according to US estimates. .

By box office standards in most studios, the premiere was an enviable one. Only three other films have come out better during the coronavirus pandemic: “Black Widow” ($80.3 million), “Shang Zhi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” ($75.3 million) and “Poison: Let It Be a Massacre” (90 million). But for a well-oiled Marvel machine, the release of “Eternals” somehow bumped the road in an unrivaled streak of 26 films.

From the start, the “eternal” trend, whose characters are immortal superheroes, has been less attractive to Marvel. By hiring Chloe Chow, whose movie “Nomadland” earlier this year won the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director, The Comic Book Factory has chosen a cult filmmaker more closely associated with artistic realism than CGI. The story also features a class of lesser known alien superheroes, whose existence spans the entire history of mankind. Actors include Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, and Kamil Nanjiani.

Eternals, which costs about $200 million to produce, has opened aggressively abroad and grossed $90.7 million in 46 international territories. The film was not shown in China although it was directed by a Chinese director.

Here’s the entry at the US and Canadian box office from Friday through Sunday, according to Comscore: