Debuting in an initial 14 international box office markets on Wednesday, Disney/Marvel’s Eternals opened to an estimated $7.6M with No. 1s across the vast majority. First-day results on the Chloe Zhao-directed pic put it 85% ahead of Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings and 20% ahead of Black Widow on a like-for-like basis. Wednesday previews not included in the total above out of Mexico ($500K) and Brazil ($400K) place the film at No. 1 in each.
As we reported yesterday, Korea banked $2.6M (including midnights) on Wednesday to lead all play and score the second highest opening day during the pandemic era (behind only F9 which opened on a holiday). On Thursday, Eternals added an estimated $1.54M in the market (not included in the total above) and maintained the No. 1 slot.
Eternals’ first day of play in Korea was 125% ahead of Shang-Chi, 68% above Black Widow and 6% higher than Doctor Strange. Current social scores are lower, however, with Naver at 6.95 (vs Black Widow 9.03/Shang-Chi 7.76) and CGV at 75% (Black Widow 96%/Shang-Chi 87%).
A big Marvel market, Korea is key hub to watch this weekend as restrictions ease and as it enters a new phase of its virus response with the so-called “living with Covid” strategy.
The full overseas projection start in 93% of the international footprint is pegged in the $60M-$75M range. Shang-Chi, which likewise was original Marvel IP, did $53M in like-for-like markets
Other key markets that opened Wednesday include France, Italy, Taiwan, Germany and Hong Kong.
France scored a strong No. 1 opening with $1.6M, 66% ahead of Shang-Chi and 12% below Black Widow. The early Allociné audience score is 3.8, higher than Black Widow’s 3.3, and below Shang-Chi’s 4.2.
Italy’s $700K opening Wednesday was 78% above Shang-Chi and even with Black Widow. Eternals took the No. 1 spot with more than seven times the box office of the No. 2 film.
Taiwan gave Eternals the biggest opening day since May at No. 1 with $600K. That’s 315% higher than Black Widow and 103% above Shang-Chi. Germany likewise grossed $600K at No. 1, +39% on Shang-Chi and +20% on Black Widow.
Hong Kong’s Wednesday was good for $500K at No. 1, giving Eternals the second best launch day of the pandemic (just 1% behind No Time To Die). The start is 26% ahead of Shang-Chi and 14% ahead of Black Widow. Sweden’s debut was the second biggest opening day of the year at $300K (+109% Shang-Chi/+8% Black Widow)
Today sees further openings in Australia, Brazil and Mexico as well as Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Portugal, Ukraine, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Argentina and all of the smaller Latin American territories.
We’ll have updates throughout the weekend.