Disney/Marvel Studio's “Eternals” didn’t break any
opening weekend record for Marvel franchise movie, but it still posted what amounted to a top-five theatrical opening weekend for 2021 -- a year still feeling the effects of pandemic-related
disruption.
Its $71 million in U.S. box-office revenues, according to Comscore -- the highest for the most recent weekend -- added to the $90.7 million it earned in international box-office
revenue, totaling $161.7 million.
For its entire national TV advertising campaign -- which ramped up in earnest beginning on October 3 -- $17.3 million was spent,
according to iSpot.tv.The bulk of the advertising -- in terms of resulting impressions -- was with NFL Football (141.7 million) and Major League Baseball (72.4 million)
Now in its third week, Warner Bros.’ “Dune” pulled in $7.6 million -- second to “Eternals."advertisement
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MGM’s “No Time to Die” came in at
$6.2 million, followed by Sony’s “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” at $4.5 million; 20th Century Studios' “Ron’s Gone Wrong” with $3.6 million and Searchlight
Pictures’ “The French Dispatch” at $2.6 million.
The best debut after “Eternals” was Neon’s “Spencer" at $2.1 million.
The
top movie so far this year is Disney’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” at $223.7 million in U.S. box-office revenues, according to iMDB’s Box Office Mojo, followed
by Sony’s “Venom” at $197 million; Disney’s “Black Widow,” $183.7 million; and Universal Pictures’ “F9: The Fast Saga” at $70 million.
The biggest studio spenders through 10 months of this year, according to iSpot.tv, are Warner Bros. at $140.4 million, followed by Universal Pictures at $85.4 million; Marvel with
$45.92 million; 20th Century Studios at $45.89 million; MGM with $42.9 million; Columbia Pictures at $35.4 million; and Walt Disney Pictures with $32.1 million.
Total
theatrical movie spending -- which also promotes home-based premium streaming platforms where movies have run concurrently with theatrical releases -- totaled $585.7 million from January 1 through
November 6.This is up 75% versus the same period in 2020 ($335.3 million), which was also impacted by pandemic-related theater closures.
At the same time, this total is
down 49% from the pre-pandemic 2019 period, where national TV spend was $1.15 billion, season-to-date.
The top weekend performers this year ahead of “Eternals” are
“Venom” ($90 million), “Shang-Chi” ($75.4 million), “Black Widow” ($80.4 million) and “F9” ($70 million).