Marvel Thought One Of Its Worst-Reviewed MCU Movies Was Going To Be A Hit

Highlights

• Eternals’ negative reception was a surprise for Marvel Studios, as they had high hopes for the film and expected it to be well-reviewed.
• The early embargo lift and extensive promotion didn’t work in favor of Eternals, as the reviews turned out to be bad.
• Factors like the timing of the movie’s release during the pandemic, lack of emotional connection with the characters, and criticism on social media contributed to the film’s underperformance at the box office.

Eternals star Kumail Nanjiani has finally broken his silence on the film’s negative reviews and how Marvel Studios was sure the movie would be a massive hit critically.

Eternals was set to be Marvel Studios biggest outing since The Avengers. However, Eternals reviews were mixed or negative, and audiences didn’t show much love towards it. Ever since the film’s release, the stars have been quite vocal about how they and Marvel Studios felt the movie would be a success. Now, Nanjiani has also opened up about Eternals‘ negative reception and didn’t hold back in saying how Marvel Studios had high hopes for the film.

While speaking on the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast, Nanjiani revealed that Marvel Studios believed Eternals would be well-reviewed and well-received by viewers. However, things went downhill for the movie as soon as the reviews started coming out. Additionally, the actor noted how hard it was for him to deal with the negative reviews. “It was really, really hard because Marvel thought the movie was going to be really, really well reviewed. And so they lifted the embargo really early, and they also put it in some fancy movie festivals, and they sent us on a big global tour promoting the movie right as the embargo was lifted,” he said. “And so we had to travel the world, while they thought we’d be going on a wave of raves, and it wasn’t true. The reviews were really bad.”

Marvel Studios’ confidence backfired with an early embargo lift for a film trying to break new ground in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Apart from that, a section of fans started leaving a 1-star or 2-star review on several review websites due to Eternal‘s LGBTQ representation and its diverse cast. On the other hand, the timing of the movie’s release also played a crucial role in its debacle. Eternals was one of the few movies released in the wake of the pandemic, and that’s one of the reasons why Marvel Studios was so overconfident about the project. The production giant thought viewers might enter theaters in large numbers to watch a film as big as Eternals. However, viewers were not pleased with many aspects of the movie. Most importantly, fans believed that the film’s story was all over the place and didn’t look appropriate for the MCU at the time.

On the other hand, the negative things said on social media certainly played a significant role in the movie’s negative reception. As a result, Eternals underperformed at the box office and earned over $402 million globally, making it the fifth-lowest-grossing MCU movie. One of the main reasons for the film’s failure was that people didn’t know much about the characters and couldn’t form any emotional connection with them. As of now, there hasn’t been any confirmation about the sequel to the 2021 film. It’s unclear what kind of plans Marvel Studios has for Eternals, but bringing them back to the MCU would be great. How? Well, Marvel Studios would undoubtedly have an idea about that.

Eternals is currently available for streaming on Disney Plus.

Source: Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum